Hello my crafty peeps and welcome to another Innovation Station post! This is a monthly feature focusing innovative tips and tricks. During the 2nd week of each month I plan to share an innovation that I find myself going to again and again.
This month’s innovation is white washing as a coloring technique. White washing is just what you might think, it’s the process of coloring an image with white chalk ink using a water brush and then using markers (Distress, Stampin’ Write, or ZIG Clean Color) or ink pads to add color over the top of the “whitewash”.
You start off by rubbing your embossing buddy over your card stock and then stamping your image in VersaMark ink. Pour white embossing powder over your image and then heat set. HINT: Let your heat tool heat up for 8-10 seconds before putting it over your image and the embossing powder will melt faster and cause less paper warping. Once the embossing powder is cooled you can begin white washing a layer of craft white over the image using a water brush and ink in the lid of your stamp pad. Never put your water brush directly onto the stamp pad.
Once the white washed layer is dry you can begin adding color using ink in the lid of your stamp pad and a water brush. I typically lay dark color in the corners and then using the water brush pull it through the space. Once you are satisfied and it is dry you can use a damp cloth to wipe the ink off the embossed areas. Typically this technique is done on kraft card stock, but I’ve also had fun results on gray so I’m showing that as well. Here are flowers, two on kraft and two on basic gray card stock. Both sets use Calypso Coral and Lemon Lime Twist over the Craft white. The colors look different over the gray versus the kraft, don’t they? Lastly, I will sometimes add some clear Wink of Stella over the image for that little bit of shine.
Open stamps work best for this technique and it is perfect when paired with floral images because it adds a dreamy quality to them, but it will work with any stamp with large open spaces.
Thanks for hanging out with me, and learning (or relearning) a fun innovation! Join me next month for another go to innovation, inlaid die cutting. Until next time, remember, creativity and imperfection live together in all we do. “Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.”
~xoxo
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Thinking Of You, Beautiful Bunch, & Butterfly Basics
Ink: Versa Mark, Calypso Coral, Lemon Lime Twist, & Berry Burst
Embossing Powder: White
Tools: Water Brush, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy
Card Stock: Kraft & Basic Gray