Scrapbooking chic watercolor backgrounds. Fashion trend: watercolor
Before you start working on the page (I take a regular sheet of Whatman paper for drawing or paper for watercolor), you need to wet it thoroughly on both sides. It is best to do this in the bathroom and water the sheet from the shower. Then you need a wooden tablet on which such a sheet will be stretched. But it should be borne in mind that the size of the original sheet should be 30 centimeters larger than the desired page size, because the sheet is placed on the tablet and its free sides are bent (15 centimeters on each side) and fastened with buttons along the perimeter. Personally, instead of a tablet, I used a children's play board for inserts (its back side). Having fixed the sheet in this way, let it dry, and then we begin to work with paints in the same place, without removing the buttons.
But today I want to talk about my research in search of a flat sheet when working with watercolors.
We take a sheet of paper (I have a sheet of Sneg cardboard, white color, density 250 g / m, 30x30cm), determine the size you need (I make pages 9.5x20.5 cm in size) and also "soak" it under running water with two sides. Then we put it on a towel, cover it on top and begin to iron it with an iron until it dries completely. This technique does not provide a complete solution to the problem of sheet bending from moisture, but provides its greatest prevention. Now you can start creating the background.
I'll show you one possible way to create a watercolor background for a scrapbook page.
Apply a sheet of paper prepared in the above way watercolor paint... The color is determined based on the photos that will be placed on the page. I chose yellow for the base. Excess moisture can be collected with a paper towel. Next, we apply the second color of paint for the base - mine is green. Spray water from the spray bottle, and again remove the excess with a paper towel.
Then we start up watercolor pencils... You can work with them in several ways: Blend on the page, then soak the brush in water and blur, or soak a watercolor pencil lead in water and paint on the page. I have used both of these methods.
Go around the edges of the page with a darker pencil color (dark green), then blur the sharp edges with a brush.
Let's move on to further coloring the page. Using a yellow watercolor pencil, add color transitions on the page.
Alternating the above methods of working with watercolor pencils, we create and enjoy the process.
As a result, I got the following background for the page, made with watercolors and pencils.
Such a blank can be put on a press or ironed with an iron.
And then we proceed to filling and decorating. We estimate the layout of photos on the page and glue them. To maintain the theme of the photo, I decided to emboss the grass stamp using Wow Primary Lemon powder.
At the same time, I want to warn you against hot air from the hair dryer in the photograph (from which they - photographs - swell). Remember to cover them with a piece of paper.
The next step is to "merge" the photos with the page. To do this, I take ordinary masking tape, tear it into strips and glue it for reliability.
At the junction of the tape with the photograph, I also made embossing with yellow powder. Next, we add accents in the form of a jasmine flower, decorated with distressing ink and stamping, some scrap paper from the sheet of My Mind "s Eye" Be HappyHoney Pink ", braids with pom poms and a giraffe chipboard.
At the end, the final touch - in some places on the page and on the photographs, spilled alcohol ink (yellow and green).
And this is what the entire scrap page looks like, the background of which was created using watercolors and pencils.
All materials are provided by the store ScrapUA
Be inspired!
Watercolor backgrounds? Elementary!
The article was written for issues of the magazine "Scrap-Info" 6β2011.
Sometimes you look at a photograph and think - how to convey this transparency of air, crystal clear water or ringing frost of winter? Watercolors are paints available to everyone. In order to create a full-fledged background, we need paper for watercolors and brushes, from the accompanying materials - a sponge, mini-mistas (in other words, sprayers).
Watercolor background. The basics
Let's see what colors are mainly present in the photo. In my case, it is blue, turquoise and a little brown. Therefore, we take a plastic file or bag, insert a white sheet of paper into it (to see the color) and apply paint of the desired color to it. For best performance, you can squeeze the brush with your fingers.
We put a sheet of paper on top.
Press and smooth it.
What a puddle it turned out!
To make it even more interesting, we tilt the sheet in different directions - the colors flow and mix. With gradual drying, picturesque stains are formed.
Now let the paper dry. If the color spot turns out to be pale, you can drop the necessary paint on it with a brush and turn the sheet. The paint will spread over the existing stain. And if, on the contrary, it turned out too dark, you can sprinkle it on the stain with water (from a spray bottle) - the water will dilute the paint, and the stain will become lighter.
As practice shows, a spectacular color spot can be created not only in the way described above. To create such a picture, you need to do the following.
Wet the center of the sheet with a spray bottle or sponge.
Apply the colors you need with a brush on the damp paper.
Rotate the paper at different angles until you are satisfied with the color mixing result.
In the process of creating a picture, you can drip water or colored paints onto the sheet.
There is only one difference between a color spot made by the first method and a color spot obtained by this method: in the first case, we get a color spot with clearly defined edges of an interesting configuration, and in the second, the edges of the spot are blurred and come to naught. Basically, if you need to paint over the entire sheet, then the easiest way is to moisten it generously with a sponge and apply paint on top, very quickly.
To create such backgrounds, you need to do the following.
Choose a suitable stamp for the page.
Make an impression, apply white powder and bake.
Apply paint by spray or according to the first method.
Turn the sheet in different directions so that the paint spreads and mixes.
The meaning of these manipulations is as follows: when the watercolor dries, it creates a dark outline around the image made with the help of embossing, which forms a kind of shadow, giving an interesting volume effect.
To create such a background, you need to do the following.
Pour water into a spray bottle, add the necessary paint to it with a brush, then spray on those areas where you are going to make a background of this color. The main thing in this business is not to overdo it and not create a puddle that arises if you splash several times in the same place.
Dilute another paint in a similar way - sprinkle, again, in the right place. It is good to have multiple nozzles for this operation to save time.
Wait until the paint is absorbed and add a little spray of a deeper shade (don't do it all at once - risk getting a puddle!).
To straighten the sheet after processing with watercolor, you need:
Put the sheet, which has not yet dried to the end, under the press. ATTENTION! Several layers of newspaper or a diaper should be placed under the sheet and on top of it, and then apply the press. A newspaper or diaper is needed so that moisture from the sheet is absorbed into them. Place a sheet of office paper between the sheet and the newspaper so that the newspaper text does not get printed.
Iron the sheet with an iron. Be very careful if you did hot embossing! There is a good chance that the print will be printed on your ironing board when you heat it up with the iron!
If for some reason the sheet is dry, and you haven't put it under the press yet, moisten the sheet on the back with a sponge (without fanaticism) and put it under the press.
A radical but effective measure is gluing the page onto cardboard. The meaning of this procedure is as follows - if you lubricate the reverse side of the page with glue-pencil, then the glue will wet the page, and it will stick evenly. For insurance, you can glue the page with tape around the perimeter and in the center so that bubbles do not form and the page is held tight.
Some subtleties revealed by the scientific poke method:
If the entire paper is wetted, it dries almost evenly.
If you plan to make watercolor pages for the ALBUM, it is better to use watercolor paper with a density of no more than 230 g / m2, without additives from cotton fibers, etc. Otherwise, if the paper is driven, it will be difficult to glue it - thick paper does not get wet well from the glue.
If you are going to make just pages and do not plan to breed a very large puddle, then it is preferable to use very thick watercolor paper.
In conclusion, I will add the following. Probably, everyone knows from school times: if you mix yellow and blue colors, you get green; yellow and red - orange, etc. Take the time to see how other colors behave when mixing, so that you do not accidentally get incidents in your work. That's, in principle, all the secrets! The main thing in this business is training. Experiment first on small pieces of paper and only then take large pieces of paper for your main work. Whatever happens, just as one girl wrote to me after the master class: "Lena, I have already spoiled three sheets, but I still did not succeed! .."
π
Watercolor is beautiful for its transparency, isn't it? But what if we use this property of paint and make a beautiful and airy, multi-layered and multi-colored background for the page? Let's get started!
We need:
Watercolor paper as a base
Watercolor paints
Wide flat brush
Photos and decor for the page
1. First of all, you need to decide on the range and location of the main elements - photographs - on the page. If you are having difficulty choosing a color scheme, you can use a wonderful service on specialized sites, for example http://colorschemedesigner.com/.
For my page, I chose a linear composition, the main color spots will be located along the same horizontal as the photo.
2. Let's start coloring our white sheet! The first layer will be light wet tint. Soak the sheet with water (brush or spray) and while it's still wet, add colors based on your chosen palette.
3.After the sheet is dry, add homemade stencil masks. These can be simple geometric shapes - circles, rectangles, or more complex - stars. Ready-made paper flowers can also be used as a mask. For my page, I chose the shape of a butterfly, cut out several pieces of various sizes from white paper. We fix the masks with temporary glue dots or not too sticky double-sided tape (be careful with it! When peeling off, make sure not to injure the paper!)
4. Paint over the masks as follows. The brush should be slightly damp, squeeze it out after getting wet so that the villi are distributed in small groups. Lightly pick up the paint by dipping the very tip into the watercolor puddle.
5. In addition to homemade masks, you can also use ready-made ones: I took one of my favorite blotted masks. Brush movements should be clear and confident, but do not press too hard, try to iron the paper, as it were. Using this technique, you will see a very nice "striped" effect.
6. Let's evaluate the result.
7. When the paper is dry, add drops near the shapes of the butterflies. To do this, take a generous amount of paint with a brush and shake it off with a sharp movement on the paper. You can tap your brush against a ruler or pencil.
8. Now you can peel off the masks and once again evaluate the resulting background.
When viewing photographs, it may sometimes seem that it is almost impossible to display crystal clear water, fresh transparent air, and unique landscapes of a frosty winter on paper.
After sorting through a heap of paper sheets and design cardboard, it becomes obvious to the master that it will not be possible to convey the above effects with anything other than watercolors. And they are available to everyone.
A fully high-quality watercolor background in scrapbooking will only work when using a combination of paper for watercolors, a brush and watercolors of the desired colors.
Important! Brushes should be made of suitable materials: sponges, mini-mist (or spray).
The basics of creating a watercolor background 
a
First of all, you need to carefully consider the photo and highlight the colors prevailing on it.
Let's say these are colors: blue, brown and turquoise.
You will need a plastic bag or a paper file in which you need to place a sheet of white paper.
Then - choose the desired paint color and apply it to the sheet. It is allowed to wring out the paint from the brush with your fingers for greater effect.
Now you should put the paper sheet on top, gently press and smooth it.
A "pool" of paints forms on its surface.
To get an even more interesting effect, you can tilt the sheet in different directions. In this case, the paints will begin to spread and mix, forming picturesque stains after drying.
Now you need to dry the paper sheet. If the stain of paints on it turns out to be too pale, you can add the desired paint with a brush and turn the sheet again. The paint will begin to spread over the already formed spot.
Too dark stain can be thinned with water using a spray. Water will dissolve the paint, making the stain less saturated and darker.
In practice, it will become clear that not only the method described above can be used to obtain a color spot.
To create such a watercolor background, you need the following:
- moisten a sheet of paper in the center with a sponge or spray;
- with a brush, add paint of the required colors to the moistened area of ββthe paper sheet;
- rotate the sheet until the desired result is obtained;
- in the process of creating, too light spots can be diluted with paint, and too dark ones - with water;
What is the difference between the spots that were created by the first and second methods?
The stain obtained by the first method has clear boundaries. The second spot will have blurred edges. If you want to paint over the sheet completely, it is better to use a sponge to completely wet it with water. The paint is then applied with quick strokes or blots on top.
To get the following backgrounds you need:
- choose the appropriate stamp for the page;
- make an impression, add white powder, bake;
- the paint can be applied as described in the first method or using a spray;
- to get an interesting effect, you need to rotate the sheet, while the paint flows and mixes.
The techniques described above allow you to create a dark outline around an embossing image (volumetric drawing) using watercolor paint. This outline serves as a shadow and creates a three-dimensional effect.
To get this watercolor background, you need to do the following:
- Pour water into the spray container, add the required paint to the liquid with a brush. The areas of the sheet of paper on which it is necessary to obtain a background of this color should be moistened with a spray bottle. This must be done carefully to avoid the appearance of puddles (do not spray in the same place several times).
- Similar to the method described in the previous paragraph, to dilute the paint of a different color. Sprinkle it on a sheet of paper in the required places. It is more convenient to use several sprayers at once.
- Wait until the applied paint dries, add a spray of a more saturated color or shade. It is not recommended to rush in this case in order to avoid puddles on the sheet.
How to straighten a sheet after paint treatment
To do this, you need a film (or several sheets of newspaper) and office paper. Newspaper or film is needed to absorb the ink, and office paper will prevent newspaper text from being reprinted.
The sheet can be straightened by following these steps:
- Put an incompletely dry sheet under a press, on which you first put office paper with newspaper sheets or film on top.
- Gently iron the sheet with an iron. If the image was created using the hot embossing technique, it can easily degrade.
- If the paint is already dry before flattening the sheet, it should be slightly moistened with water from the opposite side before placing it under the press.
- A rather radical way is gluing the sheet to the cardboard. To do this, it is better to use a glue stick, which should be used to evenly apply the adhesive base to the sheet. You can also use scotch tape, which is used to glue the sheet around the perimeter and in the center to avoid the appearance of bubbles.
Some subtleties, knowledge of which comes with practice:
- Uniform drying of the sheet can be achieved by completely wetting it with water.
- If you need to make watercolor sheets for an album, it is better to use not too thick watercolor paper (up to 230 gsm) with no cotton fibers and other additives. Otherwise, the paper will be difficult to glue and can lead to it.
- For simple pages with a small puddle of paint, it is better to choose a paper for watercolor with a high sheet density.
Some tips from the master Elena Vinogradova:
- To avoid confusion when mixing colors of watercolors, it is recommended to experiment with this before doing the work.
- For example, blue and yellow when mixed will give green, red and yellow - orange.
- Before using a combination of other colors, it is better to mix them on a draft and see the result.
- Small pieces of watercolor paper can serve as drafts.
- That's all the secrets. The main thing is to practice well before starting the main work.
The master class was prepared by:
Hello everyone! Katya Shudrova is with you, and today I will show you a fairly simple and classic technique - creating a background using watercolors. Watercolor never leaves anyone indifferent and it appeared in postcards quite a long time ago. I also really love this material, but not everyone lends itself to it - you need skill and practice. Nevertheless, what we create today can hardly fail! So, stock up on materials and go! Fortunately, we need nothing at all:
- Watercolor paper and cardboard for the base >>>
- Watercolor (any) >>>
- Large brush no less than 8 (it is better to take a flat one) >>>
- Water in a jar - where without it!
- Pencil, ruler, eraser (if there is no faith in the eye) >>>
- Punching machine >>>
- Black ink >>>
- Stamp with the inscription >>>
- Acrylic block >>>
- Sequins >>>
- Roll glue, Glossy Accents or any sequin glue >>>
- Dry wipes (just in case)
- Cutter >>>
We'll start by preparing everything for work: we need paints, a brush, water and cardboard in quick access. I recommend taking paper for watercolors in a larger format than a postcard. I like to create a decorative sheet 2x the size of what I need. I do this so that at the end of the work, I can choose the most attractive piece and use it exactly.
Then, having selected the shades I need, I spread a generous pool of paint on the palette and, having well moistened the brush in it, draw horizontal lines in one stroke. It is important that the brush is saturated, otherwise the stroke will break off in the middle of the work and you will have to start over. Practice to get started!
I drive all the droplets to one edge (at the end of the stroke), and then either collect it with a napkin, or tilt the sheet towards the beginning of the movement, distribute the pigment along the entire length of the stroke, making it more saturated.
Then I breed a puddle of a different color and do the same. It is important to finish with one color first, and only then move on to another. Otherwise, all stripes may turn out to be different shades. To make it easier to navigate, you can mark the places of the stripes with a ruler and pencil before applying paint. Just do not draw where the paint will be applied, otherwise you will not be able to erase these lines later. I did it by eye, without preliminary marking, and this is what happened in the end for me.
After I have finished and the surface of the sheet is dry (the puddles of paint have disappeared), I smooth it out with a puncher (in my case, the Big Shot). My plates are no longer the first freshness, so they will leave an ugly relief if you put a sheet between them. To avoid this, I place a sheet between the TAB1 and TAB2 plates. Having already placed on top of the cutting plates and a couple of sheets of writing paper or cardboard for density, I pass the "sandwich" through the typewriter 2-3 times.
I crop an even and smooth sheet, choosing the most interesting fragment, in my opinion.