Welcome back everyone! Whether you're a longtime reader or coming here for the first time from Crafty Karen, I'm excited to see you! Thanks for checking out our hop where we make a project using a theme and technique or supply that we've randomly chosen. The challenge is fun, but the best part is getting to use some of those supplies we've had squirreled away for who knows how long!
This month, we wanted to pair flower/nature elements with alcohol inks. This could include the bottles of inks, reinkers, or alcohol markers.
As it happens, I have alcohol markers I treated myself to for Christmas (this Ohuhu bundle). I haven't gotten nearly enough time to play with them, so this was a good push!
Of course my brain went all sorts of ornery and decided right out of the gate that I should use alcohol markers to make a watercolor effect. I then proceeded to sit myself down and have a conversation with myself.
"I'm sorry, Brain, but WHAT? Go home! You're drunk! Oh, you are home? Ok, well let's indulge this then...."
While I continue to struggle with my constant internal debate of whether I'm a genius or a fool, let's take a look at the results!
I'm still not 100% sure if it came out looking like a watercolor effect or if I am choosing to convince myself of such. Either way, I do think it's pretty! The first step for me was to define what "watercolor effect" even means. I see it as generally a softer look with a planned imperfection. The colors bleed into each other and into the paper itself. To create that look, the first step seemed to be finding the right stamp. I immediately thought of this set from Concord and 9th (Hello Lovely). There is a certain "sketchy" quality to it. The icing on the cake is the paint splotches that are part of the design!
Of course one thing I love is how precise markers are, so I started experimenting to see how I could work against that. As it turns out, the answer lies in heavy saturation! For each area, I chose a light color (lighter than I maybe wanted), a bit darker color, then finally an accent color. I worked petal by petal to get the best effect. And I used cardstock instead of watercolor paper. I started by coloring a petal loosely with the lightest shade. Since the ink will spread as I add saturation, I wanted to leave it somewhere to go without bleeding outside the lines. I then went back with the lighter shade and colored over the parts that I wanted to be darker (closer to the center of the flower, the edges of the petal, etc. I wanted to make sure the paper was wet. The best effects happen before the ink has dried. I then grabbed the darker shade and started dotting it through the darker areas (again, near the center of the flower, edges, etc). I worked quickly so the ink would hit wet ink and spread and bloom some. I finally grabbed an accent color (purple, pink, blue, whatever I fancied really) and used that to add a few more dots in that same area. Since the paper was well saturated, it also bloomed. This also gave me a similar effect to "underpainting" (adding a series of loose colors to the paper before ever even starting to paint your picture). I finally went back and colored over the whole petal again with my lightest shade marker. By this point the color was decently darker. This is why I started with a lighter color. By building on the layers, I got the color and texture I wanted. Since I'd loosely colored and the spread of the ink was a little unpredictable, I managed to create a bit more shading simply by coloring one last time in a more precise manner. The process didn't take terribly long, but it does require that you at least commit to one full area before you stop or walk away. Remember: working with wet ink is the key. I then colored around the outer lines with a gray colored pencil, just to help give some extra depth. After all of that, I wanted to find a sentiment that also had a watercolor vibe. I found this great sketchy font piece of ephemera and decided that this matched the big bold floral of the main design! Matted on black and then glued to a pink card base, and I'm ready to send this to someone going through a big life change!
I always love this hop and the ways I am challenged by it! But you know what I love even more? Seeing how the Squirrel Squad interpreted this theme! You're going to love it too, so be sure to keep hopping! The Squirrel Squad is a small group so the hop won't take you long, but will leave you feeling totally inspired! Next up: the lovely Lounon!! If you love what we're doing, please leave a comment! We love it even more when you subscribe!