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The newest product
I've found for adding color is produced by LuminArte,
Inc.
For those of you who love painting, watercolors and shimmer,
the Twinkling H2Os are a must have.
Twinkling H2Os
are "sparkling" cake watercolors that come in individual
pots but are sold in sets of colors. Currently there are fourteen
sets of six colors each (72 hues, 6 iridescent and 6 metallic
colors) with more to come. The individual pots are clear so that
you can see the colors to make it easy to find the right color
for your project. They also come in two sizes so you can select
the size that meets your needs. While other companies sell pearlescent
watercolors, no one else to my knowledge has developed the wide
range of hues and vibrancy now available in the Twinkling H2Os.
For example,
the iridescent colors are great on dark cardstock or you can
use them to lighten other colors in the same family (i.e. mix
iridescent blue with Ocean Wave) or create duo-tone effects by
adding to one of the hues. Oyster is used to lighten other colors
without tones going to gray. Create your own custom colors by
mixing in a palette tray or on a piece of Styrofoam or acetate
to generate an almost limitless number of colors.
I found it easiest
to paint detailed stamped images with a Figi waterbrush. Stamp
your image in waterproof ink or stamp and emboss if you do not
want the stamped image to "bleed". Let a couple of
drops of water sit in the pot to "activate" the paint,
then "pick up" the colors with the waterbrush and paint
your image. For a lighter application, "paint" your
image with water first, then add the H2Os to the wet image. The
colors blend beautifully for as long as they are wet. Once dry,
you can still blend more color just by re-wetting the existing
color. I prefer to use a watercolor paper that is hot press on
one side and cold press on the other,
I bought mine from Stamp Zia. I like to layer colors while the paint is still
wet to get darker more vibrant colors. The more you paint, the
more shimmer you get on the finished piece. Unfortunately, the
uniqueness of this product, i.e., the shimmer, does not show
up well on a scan or digital photo. But it is there and is what
makes these paints so different from other watercolors in my
opinion.
Another thing
that I love to do with the paints is to create backgrounds. Take
a large wet brush or sponge, swirl it around in the pot and then
paint or dab it onto watercolor paper that has been wet with
water (or other cardstock depending on the effect you want).
Lift and tilt the paper to blend colors and then let dry. With
a really wet brush you can also "fling" the paint onto
your cardstock to get more intense color. Or use them to create
a watercolor "wash" over a stamped and embossed image.
The embossing resists the paint for an instant sparkling background.
Anything you would do with traditional watercolors you can do
with the Twinkling H2Os…you just get the added shimmering
effect when they dry.
A final thing
you can do is paint them directly onto your stamp. This "direct
to rubber" technique is not as easy to master (in my opinion)
due to variances in rubber but is usually done with a solid or
bold image (versus a line image). Blend several colors of paint
onto your image with a waterbrush and then stamp onto your paper
(cheap cardstock seems to work better for this technique). I've
seen this done where a person stamped immediately while the paint
was still wet and I've also seen where a person allowed the paint
to dry on the stamp and then misted it lightly with water before
stamping. Either way, you get a watercolor effect with your image.
You can usually get more than one impression by misting the stamp
with water between stampings. If you don't get a clear impression,
you can blend the colors together with a little water after you
stamp or apply additional color to blend over any blank areas
on the paper. However, this technique only works with some rubber
images in my experience. Some rubber appears to have a type of
surface finish that causes the Twinkling H2Os to "bead up".
If you have this problem, you can try cleaning the stamp with
a solvent cleaner (like the one manufactured for the StazOn pads)
but I've found there are just some images that won't work. Experiment
with different images to find one(s) that will work.
These paints
seem to be extremely light resistant (I have not noticed any
fading over time at this point) and they are extremely easy and
versatile to use. A fabulous product in my opinion and so much
fun to play with! You're going to want them all!
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