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This week's Technique Lovers Challenge is.....Watercolor Resist.
First, here is some inspiration for you. This stunning work of art is by Carole Richardson. Check out the rest of her gallery too....she is amazing!! Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
Editted to add:
Here is my take on the directions, including some tips shared by those who have done this already (thank you!) :
Step 1: take a quarter sheet of cardstock, spritz it with water, and simply smear on some colors. For the color, you can use watercolor crayons, a couple drops of reinker on the lid of the stamp pad, or even just squeeze the unopened stamp pad together to get some ink onto the inside of the lid, or scribble a marker on the clear box our stamps come in. You can use your aquapainter, a regular paintbrush or even a sponge to apply the color.
Even though we are watercoloring, do not use water color paper...the texture of it is too rough to accept the clear embossing properly. You will have better luck with a smoother cardstock, like Whisper White, Very Vanilla, or the other neutrals.
Step 2:
(a) Clear emboss an image on the colored paper. To 'clear emboss' an image: Rub the embossing buddy over the dry cardstock so that the embossing powder will stick only where you want it to. Ink up a shadow stamp (see below) with Versamark. Stamp. Sprinkle on the clear embossing powder, pour off the excess (you can use this again), and then using your heat gun, heat up the embossing powder just until it turns clear, smooth and shiny. You will be able to see it change from a powdery texture to a clear surface. Let this cool for a minute.
(b) Apply more color to the entire piece of cardstock, going right over the embossed part.
(c) The embossed part will have puddles of color sitting on top of it....wipe that off with a paper towel and mop up any other color sitting in puddles.
(d) cover the cardstock with plain paper or a part of a brown paper sack. Press this with a hot (no steam) iron. This will remelt the embossing powder, and remove it from your cardstock and transferring it to the cover paper. You might have to move the cover paper and iron a few times. If you are worried about getting the embossing powder on your iron, you can cover the surface of your iron with aluminum foil (probably not a bad idea!).
A "shadow stamp" is one where the focal image is actually not stamped, instead it is the background surrounding the image is stamped, leaving the focal image unstamped....clear as mud? Some examples of shadow stamps are: Reverse Prints, Nature's Secret, Happiest of Holidays, Stipple Celebrations, Happy Occasions, All I have Seen, Mostly Flowers
If you don't have any shadow stamps, I would think you could do some neat things with any of our bold stamps.
A "bold stamp" is one that has a solid image, not a stamp that is outlines of something to color in. A few examples of "bold stamps" are: All the Best, Buds and Blossoms, Terrific Tulips.
A few examples of "outline stamps" (that won't work with this technique) are: Haute Couture, Nice and Easy Notes, In Full Bloom.
*end of edit*
I can't wait to see what you all come up with!
Please put TLC27 in the keyword section when you upload, and then post a link to your card here in this thread.
If you are new to the challenges, please feel free to do this one or ANY of the challenges at any time. There is no time limit. They are not races to see who can do one first, nor are they contests of any sort. All the challenges are simply to provide inspiration and to get us STAMPIN' !!
__________________ Beth
You are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think.
~Christopher Robin~
Last edited by showmestamper; 08-31-2005 at 07:08 AM..
Hey I just tried out my first one this morning! Carole's is soooo fab. i just found it this morning after I posted mine. Reverse prints is really high on my wish list now!
Beth, This is going to be another great challenge. I have always wanted to try watercolor resist. May not be able to until this weekend. The HA directions will be very helpful. I am also a great fan of Carol's. Thanks again, Nancy
Last edited by nancy littrell; 08-29-2005 at 10:24 AM..
I just tried this! My first one didn't turn dark enough, but I might still do something with it later. I'm really happy with the second. I love learning new things, I'll definitely do this technique again. It works great with "All I Have Seen" which is a set I usually struggle with.
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This was such a fun one! I had to use Natural Vanilla paper. I couldn't get the embossing to be very good on the watercolor paper. Mabey it's just me though! Here is my card! Thanks Beth!!
Here's Mine
Ok since I only have 1 reverse print stamp, I had to make due It doesn't quite have the same affect as the Reverse Print set does, but it turned out ok.
__________________ ~@~Laura~@~
Last edited by laurakj; 08-29-2005 at 01:43 PM..
Reason: no longer pending
Here's mine. This was very hard for me. I have never done it before and it took several attempts to get something putting on the front of a card. I enjoyed the challenge but I'm not sure I did it correctly. Thanks Beth for making us stretch.
Well, this was a fun challenge, but I am not able to upload my card. I will try to attach a thumbprint copy for the time being. I will definitely try this technique again so I can better utilize my reverse print stamps. Thanks for keeping these challenges coming.
Wendy
__________________ Thanks, Wendy wereids = we-reids not weirds "You never fail until you stop trying."
Here's mine; I hope Stipple Celebrations counts as a Reverse set! I'll look for another stamp & then try this again; this one is growing on me! Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
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This was a big stretch for me because I don't have watercolors or watercolor paper. I had to try several times to get an image that I thought did the technique adequate justice. I will definitely try again later, though, with my lessons learned.
Sewcrazie, Let me walk you through the first couple steps.
Step 1: take a quarter sheet of cardstock, spritz it with water, and simply smear on some colors. Let dry.
Step 2:
(a) Clear emboss an image on the colored paper. To 'clear emboss' an image: ink up a bold stamp (something with a solid image, not a stamp that is outlines of something to color in) with Versamark. Sprinkle on the clear embossing powder, pour off the excess (you can use this again), and then using your heat gun, heat up the embossing powder just until it turns clear, smooth and shiny. You will be able to see it change from a powdery texture to a clear surface. Let this cool for a minute
(b) Apply more color to the entire piece of cardstock, going right over the embossed part.
(c) The embossed part will have puddles of color sitting on top of it....wipe that off with a paper towel and mop up any other color sitting in puddles.
(d) cover the cardstock with plain paper or a part of a brown paper sack. Press this with a hot (no steam) iron. This will remelt the embossing powder, and remove it from your cardstock and transferring it to the cover paper. You might have to move the cover paper and iron a few times. If you are worried about getting the embossing powder on your iron, you can cover the surface of your iron with aluminum foil (probably not a bad idea!).
I hope that helps! If you have more questions, please, please ASK! I'm here to help.
Okay Beth, you really made me work today. I was trying to use watercolor paper and it had a texture that just would not work. After three attempts I switched to this very heavy cardstock and finally got it right then split the c/s into two layers. I still wasn't real keen on it until I started layering the card and now I think it's passable! I didn't find that it bled much under the embossed image and I had lots of water on it.
I thought this was the only shadow stamp image I had until I saw Julia S used Nature's Wonders and I have that set. I may have to try it now. Here�s my card
Hope that it's OK to post this one but I did a Faux Watercolor Resist as I was trying to come up with a similar look without having the reverse prints set.
Here's my card. I got it uploaded just a few minutes ago. It amazing how dependent one can become to this site and the daily challenges. I was stressing until I could get this card uploaded. I am seriously hooked, right??? Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
__________________ Thanks, Wendy wereids = we-reids not weirds "You never fail until you stop trying."
Last edited by wereids; 08-30-2005 at 04:24 PM..
Reason: forgot to add card upload
Wow took me forever and a day to get this done . The kids open house for school and all that stuff. so sorry if shes plane ... Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
And oopps i forgot to iron it . gees :???:
__________________ They say we can see it from the place of the crouching man. There it rests taken from the sea..
Last edited by swinddrake; 08-30-2005 at 06:18 PM..
Well, a challenge it was! I couldn't quite figure out how to completely get rid of the clear embossing (I ironed it as directed). But I think it turned out okay. Thanks for teaching me something new! Here's my card:
I agree with everyone else that this definately *was* a challenge! I tried several different things with shadow stamps and couldn't get one that I was happy with (wasted a lot of SU watercolor paper). I ended up doing something a little different and used the leaves from Petal Prints ... Stamped/Embossed those and then watercolored over it. Then removed the embossing and finished the card. I'm actually pleased with how it turned out. Thanks for the challenges .. they're getting me stamping and posting!
Wow, everyone is doing great things with this technique! I updated the original post to clarify the directions and included some tips that you all have shared based on your experiences. I really appreciate the tips....it helps us all!
I know I haven't done any TLCs for a while now :( We're getting into new school routines and it hasn't left much time for stamping.
I just had a thought though for those that said they don't have any reverse images - make your own!
Use either fun foam or a penscore block. Heat the foam/block and press a stamp into it. Like the pumpkin from little layers. On the foam the image will be indented. So ink up the foam and stamp it on the paper and you'll have a square (or whatever shape you cut the foam into) and the lines of the stamp won't show up since they are indented. Once you are done you can reheat and the image disappers and you can use it again.
Whew!!! I did it! Just uploaded my TLC27, SC36,CC25 card. I really was challenged with Watercolor Resist. It took 4 tries to get one I really liked. I think I have worked out the bugs and want to do more pieces for later cards. Beth, you have again challenged us. Thanks again, Nancy Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
I couldn't go to bed on my birthday without stamping at least one card
I made my reverse stamp by stamping the flower into a penscore block and then using the block image to stamp with versamark onto the watercolored paper.
In real life my colors really do match and the stem of the flower is green :0
It's my first challenge and I'm late. Thanks for a great challenge and sharing with us this wonderful technique. It took me a few tries to get it but it was all worth it in the end. I just have to come up with something better next time!
Wow, this was fun to try! Thank you for the idea and to the women who have made some really amazing cards on this thread. I've tried a couple so I'll just include the links in this post. :-) Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
and... Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
I love this technique, although it's going to take some practice for me to feel really good about the background painting! It's so pretty though! Thanks!
TLC27 -- please join us!
