Presented by KC Henna Supply

Presented by KC Henna Supply

Monday, February 6, 2012

Watercolor Cards by the Amazing Mani Crain.

 

Handmade cards are a perfect, personal gift. 

 

Supplies used for this project:

 

*Georgia Pacific white card stock, 110# weight (this paper is lightly coated for ink jet printers, which reduces curling when painted)

*Watercolors and natural hair brushes, one large and one small

*Colored Pencils

*Clear or White wax crayon

*#2 Pencil

*Fine Point, indelible marker, such as a Sharpie

*Scissors

*Gum Eraser

 

-Gather all supplies needed.  Decide what size you want your card to be, then fold and cut the paper to size. 

 

-Sketch your desired design lightly in pencil.  You'll be erasing the pencil lines later, so don't press too hard.  

 

-Using colored pencils, color in all the detailed areas of your drawing.  You could also use indelible colored markers for this part, but 

I prefer the blending and shading options I have with colored pencils. 

 

-Once you have colored in all the desired areas, outline your drawing with a fine point black marker, such as Sharpie.  Make sure that

your marker will not bleed when it gets wet (indelible).  

 

-Erase your pencil lines.  A gum eraser works well for this because it doesn't leave an oily residue to interfere with the paint.  

 

-Using the crayon, color over all areas of the drawing that you don't want paint to adhere to.  You can thoroughly cover all of the colored

areas, then wash color over the entire card or just outline the picture and fill in around the edges of the design with the small brush, without painting over the drawing.

 

-For this bit, you'll want to work kind of quickly.  Using your large brush, lightly cover paper with water, just enough to dampen the pare, not so much that there is standing water.  This helps you move the paint over the background.  As soon as you have done this, pick up the desired color of paint with your brush and begin swirling it onto the paper until the entire background is covered.  Once it had dried a bit, you can go back in and add more color to certain areas, so you get varied saturation.  This will give your background depth.  Be very careful not to over-saturate or over-work any particular area, as this can cause the paper to pill, bleed through, and/or tear.

 

-Once your card is completely dry it can be embellished with glitter, gilding, ribbon, or any other fun little accent.  I've had great success finely outlining bits with white school glue then sprinkling on micro-fine glitter.  Just enough to embellish, not so much that it overpowers the art.  Or you can leave it as it is, add a little personal message to the inside, and it is ready for the mailbox!

 

The options for doing these cards are practically limitless.  Play around, experiment with different mediums,  and have fun!