Hello! Another challenge is underway over at Get Creative Challenges and this month I’ve created a one layer combination design, using Fabrika Fantasy’s Earth Fairy. The theme for this challenge is lots of sparkle and shine, which gave me a great idea on how to color this image.
Normally, watercolor is done with water and a brush, but not this time. I’ve replaced the usual brush with a Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay Sparkle Pen and combined them with Kuretake Zig Clean Color Brush Pens to give a sparkling finish to my watercolored image. This idea was something I saw, quite a while ago now, while watching a Jennifer McGuire video.
I first started off my card with a little digital manipulation, adding the Earth Fairy image to a free digital patterned paper, called Delightful Distressed Florals from Free Pretty Things For You. I digitally cropped the background piece down to a 5″×7″ image and overlaid the fairy png file onto the patterned paper. I then printed it all as one layer onto a thin watercolor paper, using a laser printer. I wouldn’t attempt to watercolor a one layer design like this if I was using an inkjet printer, the background paper’s inks may run when liquid is applied.
I didn’t want every part of my watercolored piece to have the sparkling effect, I just wanted some of the fairy to shine. I colored the skin, hair and background fruits with Zig Clean Color Brush Pens directly to the paper and allowed all that to dry.
I then set to task with my Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay Sparkle Pen, laying down a little of the Zig brush pen color in what would be the darker areas of the image. I then went over those areas with the Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay Sparkle Pen to reactivate the Zig color and spread the color across the rest of the area to be painted. Not only did this give me a less intense color but it also added lots of sparkle as I painted. I colored the wings, the dress and the flowers in the fairy’s hair in this way, helping to highlight the fairy against the background paper. I also added a tiny spot to each eye.
Adding the color with this pen doesn’t affect the brush in any way and to clean my Overlay Sparkle Pen between colors, I simply touched the brush tip onto paper towel to remove any remaining color left in the bristles. You can also use the clear Kuretake Wink of Stella brush pen in exactly the same way as the Spectrum Noir pen.
The great thing about adding watercolor this way is that it gives you limitless colors of shimmer to work with. You can also use other water based mediums with the sparkle pen, including Distress inks or Distress Markers and Memento dew drops dye ink pens or ink pads by simply picking up the medium from a palette. I like to use a ceramic coaster as a palette for this technique but a simple plate or saucer would work just as well, or even a glass craft mat.
There’s also one other tip about the Kuretake Wink of Stella or the Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay Sparkle Pen. Once it’s empty, don’t throw it away. You can simply open the barrel section and add more water. There’s always enough of the sparkle medium left inside to be reactivated and once you’ve given the pen a good shake, you can go back to adding sparkle wherever you want. This project was actually done with a pen I had added more water to and, as you can see below, there was more than enough sparkle left in the pen’s barrel to work with.
Once everything was dry, I trimmed the watercolor panel down to 4″×6″ and added it to a slightly larger piece of purple cardstock. I then glued these to a white card base, added a small Peel off sticker sentiment and drew a thin line of sparkle around the edge of the feature panel with a clear Sakura Gelly Roll Glitter pen.
I love the shiny results that this technique gives and I love that all that shine is added without having to clean up any glittery mess. Thanks so much for spending time with me today. I look forward to next time…😊
Constantly Carding 