Class taught by Heather Taylor on 2/23/08

Link to gallery:
http://orientalstampart.com/v-web/gallery/FauxWatercolor

This is not my original technique. I learned it from the famous Fred B. Mullet, who also produces lovely nature-print stamps. Mr. Mullett's description of the technique can be found on his site as well. Mine's a little more step-by-step, though.

Supplies:

• Watercolor paper pieces big enough for a card-front panel--fine grain is better (hot press is perfect, but not necessary) I cut my 12x9" sheet into 4, then trimmed it after doing all the stamping
• Stamps (I used Fred B. Mullett's bluegill fish, but you can use just about anything. It's nice if it has some finer lines and implies three dimensions: a pinecone, a plant/flower, etc. and makes sense in groups or clusters)
• a calligraphy stamp to finish off the card (I used one from Art Neko)
• a seal stamp (I used one from Stone House Stamps)
• A stamp positioner: it is critical that you be able to overstamp pretty exactly, or you lose this particular effect (even though it may make a perfectly beautiful card)
• Black pigment ink (I prefer Versacraft, but you can use anything that will dry without embossing in a decent amount of time)
• a red that you like for the seal (I used Chinese Red)
• Watercolor markers in an assorted range of colors with light and dark choices. They don't have to be monochromatic, but they should look good together. They should preferably go along with your stamp (though hey, if you want to make some blue and purple pinecones, be my guest!).
• Some kind of opaque white that you can apply in a fine line. Pencil, gel pen, acrylic paint, etc.
• A little mister bottle with water that produces a rather fine spray
• Colored pencils to go along with your color range are optional, but nice; watercolor crayons could also be helpful for the background. You can also use other water-soluble inks, such as the chalk inks.
• gloves or a little finger dabber if you care about getting dirty
• cardstock to mount your final piece
• heat tool to help speed things along

Instructions:

Step 1:

Stamp your stamp in black on your positioner. If you're using an unmounted stamp, make sure you keep it in exactly the same spot on your acrylic block throughout!

Step 2:

Determine which of your colored watercolor markers is lighter. An easy way to do this is to draw a scribble of all your colors on a piece of paper, and then determine which is the lightest. What you want to do is to start with the lighter colors, then go back in after the first stamping to highlight features on the stamp with darker colors. I numbered all mine, from lightest to darkest, and decided that the very lightest one wouldn't work, as it would just disappear into the paper, so I just used numbers 2 & 3 for my base. 7/3 is watercolor pencil, 6 & 8 are chalk inks.

Step 3:

Mist your paper. The more heavily you mist it, the more the watercolor will run when you first stamp. I probably misted my fish paper too much. But if you leave it too dry, then you won't get any diffusion going on either. As always, it's a question of trial and error, and practice!

Step 4:

Color your stamp with 2 or 3 of your lightest colors in your range. Use the lighter on top, the second lightest on the bottom (top would be where the light source for your image hits first). I then went back and added a couple of darker accents in the top portion.

Step 5:

Mist your stamp. It should be fairly wet, so the water fills in the little indentations of the stamp (see above photo). Stamp your first image--this will be the main one for your panel. Then mist the stamp once more, without adding any color, and place it in a different spot on the page. It can overlap the first, be tilted slightly up or down, etc. These lighter images will be "read" by the eye as being behind the main image. As you can see, you're going for blobs of color, nothing precise!

Step 6:

Dry your first effort with a heat gun (I should have soaked up a bit of the color in the upper fish with a paper towel first, as that intensity is stronger than what I want. Oh well!). Then, position your positioner as directly as possible over the main image. It doesn't matter if it doesn't fit exactly, since we'll be adding in the detail afterwards. Be careful: DO NOT move your positioner until you're completely finished with overstamping, or your calibration will no longer be exact!

Step 7:

I wanted much more definition in the base of my fish before I started, since I misted the paper so heavily that I lost a lot of the detail. So I recolored my stamp exactly (well, you know, as exactly as possible) as I'd done the first time, but then only misted it twice, so that it was just a bit wet (first picture below). Now it's time to start adding more, darker detail. Upper right is with my next two darkest markers, misted only a couple of times. Remember, do not move your positioner!

For the bottom two pictures I added my two Colorbox Chalk inks, but I didn't press the whole stamp into the ink pad. Instead, I took my index finger and picked up a bit of ink from the pad, then colored the stamp at the head and around the important features (gills, midline stripe, fins). I misted this lightly and stamped. I repeated this with the darker chalk ink, going over features that I really wanted to stand out that I thought I'd missed with the first color. Again, I used my index finger to pick up the ink, then "painted" the stamp with it. I also used more ink in the front of the fish, and kind of faded it as it went back by just smearing the ink instead of dabbing it on.

Step 8:

It's looking pretty good! I think I'm finished with my stamp positioner for this fish, as any details I add further will be with pencil. At this point, though, because I messed up the initial wateriness, I'm going to go back and add more detail to my background fish. I colored the stamp again with my original colors, and instead of misting a whole lot, just misted with two quick spritzes. I overstamped the second fish, then, without adding color, free-hand stamped the third, and misted again, and added one above the main fish as it was looking pretty white there. Now I'm much more pleased with the overall flow of the composition.

Step 9:

This one is a little scary, since you can create a lot more work for yourself if you mess up, but it really needs more in the background to make it pop--I discovered this trick by accident one time. Take a split complementary color (one or two of the colors that are on either side of the opposite of your main color; here, I chose red & orange to offset the blue-greens) and gently lay down some color around the darkest area of your primary image in the background. Here, I used watercolor pencils and scribbled them very lightly around the snout of the main fish, then used water to bring the color right up to the edges of the fish.

Step 10:

Now that I'm relieved I haven't ruined the whole thing, I'm going to go back into the main image and add further highlights and color to fill in some of the larger white areas. I gently scribbled my purple watercolor pencil at the front of the fish in the white areas and the highlight areas, then added water and moved the color around until I liked it. I also went back in with my darkest watercolor marker and dotted the front of the thorax between the midline and the dorsal fin, then blended that in with water (I did that also along the back of the top fin, the top of the tail, and around the gills and mouth). My second fish being so strong, I also decided to do just a little refinement with him too, adding a bit of purple especially.

The eyes were done with red and orange pencil on the lower half around the pupil, and the pupil was highlighted with a speck of white-out. I also did this, much lighter, for the second fish. Finally, with a China white pencil (it's kind of a waxy white that tends to be a little more opaque than watercolor white, and you can tone it down by smearing it with your finger somewhat), I added a few light reflections along the snout, at the base of the dorsal fin, and at the top of the side fin (I've added a close-up here to show you where the final touches appeared).

Phew! I finished off my piece with the calligraphy stamp and the seal. Then I trimmed, mounted it... and now I feel like hoarding it! *laugh*

Please feel free to ask me any more questions you might have... and please upload your beauties in the gallery!

Heather T.

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