Howdy Everyone :-)
It's Ask Wendy Wednesday time -- and I've decided to talk about Watercoloring today. Specifically what is the difference between AquaPainters and Blender Pens. I'm going to use some Stampin' Up! video tools today to help us along a little bit on this Tutorial. These are very short video clips -- so just click and watch as we go through this. I think you will find them helpful.
So first -- let's start with the basic question, really, what is the difference between AquaPainters and Blender Pens?
In the simplest of terms, AquaPainters are a tube you fill with water that has a brush tip on the end. It basically takes the place of a real live artist's brush, and water and ink you'd dip that brush in. The brush tip unscrews from the bottle so you can fill it with water. The package comes with two AquaPainters - one with a smaller/finer brush tip, and one with a larger brush tip. The water is squeezed out through the brush tip as you need it. This is really fabulous easy way to watercolor.
Our Blender Pens are dual -tipped "pens" that have a special liquid inside that allow a lot more control and true blending and coloring of your ink. These are great for detail work and true detail blending; they feel similar to an alcohol marker in terms of blending capability. When the pen won't blend anymore, it has run out of fluid and it's time to dispose of ;) Don't worry about staining of your brush tip; that is normal. Your brush tip cleans off easily on a paper towel or piece of paper while you are working and won't carry that color from one to another. A package of Blender Pens contains 3 pens and they will last you a while ;-)
A couple of tips before we move on -- use StazOn ink when watercoloring. It is specially formulated so that it will not run when working with water. On the flip side, be sure to use the Staz-On Cleaner when using Staz-On ink. Staz-On is very staining and will eventually ruin your rubber stamps. So you want to be sure to clean your stamps thoroughly with the specialized cleaner and then water with a little soap or our Stampin' Mist to be sure they thoroughly cleaned. This will lengthen the life of your red rubber stamps. I do not recommend using Staz-On on photopolymer stamps.
Also -- I recommend watercolor paper when doing watercoloring techniques. It will hold up better. You can use our beautiful Whisper White cardstock; just don't "scrub" when watercoloring or your paper will start to pill and tear.
Let's pause and take a quick peak at this first video which I think will give you a real clear view of each of these tools.
Here's a brand new video Stampin' Up! just released showcasing our recent Sale-A-Bration set, A Happy Thing, and using the blender pens to color.
Now both these videos have shown you how to pick up color with your blender pens using our classic ink stamp pads, by pressing the ink into the lid and picking it up from there and then spreading. But I like a couple other ways of laying ink and spreading it with the Blender Pens.
One of my favorite is using our Stampin' Write markers. Just lay down ink with the brush tip of the marker in the areas of the image you're coloring where it would naturally be "darker"; then start "spreading" and blending that ink outward from there using the Blender Pen. The effect is phenomenal!
Now let's take a quick look at another new video Stampin' Up! just released to us using the AquaPainters and a new Sale-A-Bration set, For Being You. This video shows a lovely "wash" technique with the AquaPainters.
Before I leave you today -- just for fun -- ;-) I thought I'd share this fun video from Stampin' Up! showing how to get a "watercolor" feel by spritzing water on your stamps after inking them up. Lot's of fun!!
I hope this week's Ask Wendy Wednesday's tutorial has been helpful to you and helps you understand a little better the difference between the AquaPainters and the Blender Pens. They both are very useful and essential to this type of technique. Drop me those questions! You never know -- yours might be the next feature on Ask Wendy Wednesdays :-)
Have a great Wednesday everyone!
Until Next Time . . .
The Doggone Delightful Stampin' Team!
