Everything Papercraft - Water Markers

Water markers are felt-tip pens that contain a reservoir of water-based ink. There are hundreds of different brands that vary in quality and versatility, from the inexpensive markers used by school children to the artist grade pens you’ll find in well-stocked art studios.

Some of the main differences between water markers include the style of nib, the quality of the ink, the size and shape of the barrel, and the composition of the reservoir housed inside.

Nibs are generally made from synthetic fibres that are shaped in various ways, such as brush nibs, chisels and bullets. Different tips result in different lines and shapes and make certain techniques easier to achieve. For example, it’s easiest to form flower petals with a brush nib, while bullet tips are great for stippling.

Ink quality varies significantly between brands, so it’s always a good idea to do a little research before investing in a set of water markers. Good brands will have ink that is vibrant, long-lasting and blends well with other colours. It will also stay true to colour when thinned with water.

The ink reservoir is housed inside the barrel of the marker and can be made from a variety of materials, such as cotton filaments or polyester fibres, depending on the type of ink. Better quality pens will have reservoirs that hold lots of ink, which prolongs the life of the marker, reducing cost and waste.

The size and shape of the marker barrel is really a matter of personal preference. Large, wide pens are often good for children who are still developing their fine motor skills, while general crafters may prefer markers that are around the same shape as a biro.

Note: I personally prefer Distress Markers, but I also have Tombows and simple Crayolas from the grocery store that I use now and again. I always advise crafters to try out different brands, such as during craft shows, classes or in certain stores, until they find what best suits their needs and style. 

Tutorial - The Colourful Reef

A quick and easy way to add lots of colour to your project is to stamp with multiple colours at once. Although you can purchase multi-coloured stamp pads that give awesome rainbow effects, using water-based markers is a little more precise.

Apply the markers directly to the stamp, colouring each area with a different colour. You can get some fabulous results by mixing the colours a little bit or by adding a fine mist of water to the stamp or onto the paper. Experiment with different techniques to see what you come up with.

I ended up with a sheet full of colourful fish and coral, which I fussy cut and loaded onto a double z-fold card for an awesome underwater scene!

Stamps:

 

Eucalyptus Leaves

It's an Aussie-fest here today, with two iconic images on one project!

I've used the single koala image from the new pop-up set, Warm Fuzzies, combined with the solid leaf stamp from the Eucalyptus clear stamp set. The eucalyptus leaves have been stamped with distress markers to form the background of my card.

The little koala was printed directly onto a piece of X-PressIt blending card, which is ideal for colouring with alcohol markers as it allows the colours to mix and blend nicely, and then fussy cut with a small pair of scissors. I always add a little more oomph to the eyes by colouring the pupils with a black pen and adding a white highlight.

To help with positioning everything evenly, I'm going to place the koala on a piece of card stock, which will be adhered to my card front, and trace a light pencil line around the outside. This will give me a guide for placing the eucalyptus leaves.

Solid stamps are great for adding multiple colours with just one impression. I'm going to colour the image with distress ink markers, adding greens, yellows and browns to the leaves and reds and pinks to the flowers. It will take several impressions to fill up the entire space, and to prevent it looking too repetitive, I'm going to move the stamp around as I make the impressions, sometimes masking out sections.

To get a beautiful watercolour look, I'm using my water brush directly over the stamped ink. The impression on the right hand side hasn't yet had any water added to it, while the other parts have. You can see the difference before and after the addition of the water.

My completed background is now ready for the little koala, which I'll attach with some foam tape to give a little more dimension to the project.

Stamps:

Springtime Colour

A couple of days ago I explained about applying colour directly to solid stamps with water-based markers, and today I have a few more examples to share...

I scribbled some pen around the flowers and leaves and drew in a quick border for a loose, fun look.

Stamps:

Cottage Garden

A Rainbow of Colour

Silhouette stamps are perfect for adding multiple colours at the same time, and a simple way to do that is by using water based markers. Place your stamp on an acrylic block and then colour each area with a marker as though you're colouring an image. Make sure you hit every part of the stamp with colour - placing a piece of white paper underneath your work will help you see where you've placed the ink.

I like to mix colours directly on the stamp. Generally, I start with the lightest colour and then tap or stroke in the darker colour to whatever area I like. There's no need to fuss a lot with this technique, just enjoy!

It doesn't take too long to build up a healthy stack of coloured images ready to be made into cards.

Stamps:

A Challenge Card

While we were away on vacation I missed a number of challenges over at Cardcamp.  One of them was a CASE card (Copy And Selectively Edit), which I created using a gorgeous Kaisercraft stamp heat embossed onto watercolour paper and then coloured with Distress Markers.

 

 

 

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Jennie, our long-suffering and infinitely good humoured Card Camp leader, prepared a tic tac toe grid of nine different cardmaking elements including things like embossing, copic markers and ribbon.  Each of us had to choose a row and create a card with the elements in that row.  I decided on "bling", "Thinking of You Stamp" and "Distress Ink" for my card, which I made using one of my favourite colour combinations.

 

Stamps: Stampin' Up

Colours: Distress markers

Die: QuicKutz Nesting Frame 9

 

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Challenge Card

 

Our challenge at Card Camp last week was to create a card using three die cuts and an embossing folder.  I chose a Spellbinders circle die and two dies from the Spellbinders Iron Motifs set as well as a Sizzix embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and the image is by Flourishes, which I stamped, heat embossed and coloured with my distress markers.

Distress Markers

Last year I purchased the whole set of Tim Holtz's distress markers with the intention of stamping up a whole rainbow of pretty images.  But for some reason I just couldn't get them to stamp as vibrantly as I wanted... probably something to do with the paper I was using.   Anyway, they kind of languished on the shelf for the next few months with the occasional trip to the craft table with very little success.

Over the weekend we got to talking about them in the Yahoo card group I'm a part of with people sharing their stories of varied success.  I decided to pull them back out and give them another go, this time with the intention of using them to colour a heat embossed image rather than using them to ink up a stamp...

 

... I don't know why but all of a sudden the markers and I just clicked and I am thrilled with the results!  I had so much fun that I decided to do the birdhouse as well, and tomorrow I'll be making them up into cards.