Video: No-Water Watercolor (Jennifer McGuire Ink)

Hello there. Today’s video shares how to stretch your supplies to achieve a faux watercolor look with no water.

(All supplies are linked to multiple sources in the thumbnails at the end of this post. Affiliate links used. To watch the video in HD on YouTube, click

HERE.)

I discovered this technique by accident while at a craft retreat in the spring. I am always so happy when I discover new ways to stretch my supplies and wanted to share with you…

I started by stamping the layering images from the Watercolor Wonders stamp set by Altenew using Hero Arts Shadow Inks on to a piece of 80lb Neenah White Cardstock. I flipped the panel over and heavily saturated the back of the stamped images with a Copic Colorless Blender Marker. When the Colorless Blender reacts with the ink, it makes the color bleed… and you’re left with a beautiful, soft watercolor look.

Remember, the more Colorless Blender you put down, the better the results will be! And to be safe, only do the blending on the back. If you apply it directly on the stamped image, the ink color will transfer to the tip of the marker. I just scribble this off and it doesn’t bother me. Up to you.

I finished the cards by heat embossing a sentiment from Altenew’s Baby Zoo stamp set using white embossing powder on to a piece of black cardstock. I adhered a few of Lucy Abram’s sequins (I like that the gold sequins have a matte finish) and added a Hero Arts gemstone to the center of each sequin. Many people ask about the placement of sequins… I like to put down an odd numbers and cluster some in a triangle shape.

You may be wondering if other inks work for this technique. I think this technique works best with the Hero Arts Shadow Inks and other inks with the same formulation, such as the Simon Says Stamp inks and the Wplus9 inks. These inks bleed with Copic Markers… which is good for this technique. On the more coral-colored card above, I used the Altenew Crisp inks. I did achieve the same watercolor look, but had to add a bit more colorless blender to the images. I encourage you to try whatever dye inks you may have. Test them out!

If you’re like me and struggle with the control of watercolor – or simply want to stretch your supplies for a new look – this might be a fun technique to try.

SUPPLIES

Interested in the products I used? To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate and product disclosure can be found here. All products personally purchased except those with asterisk.) Click on the letters below each picture to go to a favorite store: Simon Says Stamp (SSS), Ellen Hutson (EH), Amazon (AZ), etc.