2018 #3 Waterolour Zinskis with ZA {by Chris Dark}

2018 Topic 3: Watercolour

An absolute feast of ideas tonight from Chris. She made some fantastic samples for Elena upon her new release, and now I can see how she created her amazing backgrounds: oxide inks and infusions and a gel printing technique that looks like so much fun! Plus a grunge paste bonus too! You are in for a treat tonight! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Chris with you today and I'd like to share some watercolour projects using the new Zinski Art Stamps by Elena from her fantastic latest release.

I love watercolour so this was an obvious topic for me, I like the traditional kind and also the gorgeous array of water based products on the market these days including powder, pencil, crayons and markers but I also love water based inks, similarly there are pad, pencil, crayon and marker forms of these, there is a lot to choose from and I have to admit that I have chosen most of them over the years!

Have you used watercolours with a gel plate? You would think that being water based and having been spritzed with water they would bead up and not print well but they do spread out perfectly for quite a solid result similar to using paint but with the transparency you get with water based mediums.

I used a small gel plate with Distress Oxide inks in a patchwork style to create A4 sized master boards to turn into an Art-Zine (you can see below how to cut and fold) but I could go on creating master boards like this for a whole crafty session as I enjoy the process so much. You can see below how I used the extra master board I created. I also broke out my PaperArtsy Infusions which can be put to use on the gel plate but this time I layered them over the top of the dried gel prints, you get interesting textures this way.

I'm delighted with how this little art-zine turned out, it's such a great way to try out a new set of stamps but I really wish I had added some extra stickers and made the title 'sheeple I know', I might do that later!

Here you can see how the mono printing progresses, I varied the angle to get the patchwork effect. You can make marks before you print too, I made a concertina of paper and dragged it through the ink before making the print!

Now it gets more interesting with the addition of the Infusions.

Adding some text stamping in the same ink colours creates a harmonious background and PaperArtsy Glazes are marvellous to give a play on matte and shine, here I used Fresco Finish Metallic Glaze mixed with Magenta Infusions stencilled through the Kim Dellow 048 mask .

To create the Zine fold the master board in half width ways, fold each outside edge into the centre (gatefold), open out then fold in half lengthways. Cut as shown above on the length between the two outer sections and push those outer sections in to form the Zine pages. 

I used Inktense pencils for colouring which are water based ink in pencil form that you activate with water, it's similar to watercolour pencil but is a nice vibrant ink.  A bit of  Fresco Finish Gloss Glaze over the top of the sheep gives subtle extra shine.

All the hearts and flowers within the sheeples are slathered with glitter glue, I like to have some twinkles.

I like to stamp the sheep upside down too, it looks as if they're bouncing around in the air! I also added some white pen and Inktense pencil doodles to lift the background a bit.

With the extra master board I made ATCs using some gorgeous Zini's again coloured with the Inktense pencils with lots of doodles and mark making in the backgrounds.

Infusions are also fantastic for mixing into grunge paste, the water in the paste activates the colour and here I created a lovely greeny blue colour. I also coloured the ribbon with the Infusions, that's such a great way to colour co-ordinate your project! The background is Infusions and Inktense pencil watercolouring here and there and this amazing chef is also coloured with them.

Here you can see the inktense pencil watercolouring a bit closer where I've painted in a very loose style on the Chef's whites and the cake.

I had a lovely day of creative play and as you can see watercolour can mean pretty much any water based colouring medium. I've used a few here for some ideas so even if you just make a background with infusions you've had a watercolour play and can enter! Every time I play with infusions I enjoy them more and more, they are so versatile and next time I will definitely try them on my gel plate as the base layer. 

Thanks for joining me tonight and I hope you have some creative time this week.

Website: http://sketchingstamper.blogspot.co.uk/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chrisd99/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christine.dark.7
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