"Watercolour Feathers" by Melissa Struhs

 Hello Again Bloggers! I thought I would take a quick look back at a layout that I recently taught at the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo. At the time I called it "Dream a little Dream" and I was very excited that this class sold out. As feathers and watercolour techniques are still very popular, I thought I would focus on the technique I used to create the embellishments for this single page layout.

Firstly, a long bristled brush and a heavy coat of White Heavy Gesso

was applied to the chipboard feathers. I use these particular types of paintbrushes as it really helps to get in between the fine laser cut edges. Sometimes two coats also help to seal in the black fine dust that is along the edges.

The crisp white look of the gesso creates a bold surface for any colour that you choose to apply next.

I chose to work with Sapphire Colour Spray and the Colour Shimmer Cubes in Singin' the Blues and Steel to build layers of colour.

I began by dipping my paintbrush in the Sapphire Colour Spray and painted small sections. You can create quite heavy or light patches, also leaving spaces of gesso blank to add texture.

I like to dry each layer off with my heat gun, this really enhances the pooled effect before you add another product.

My Colour Shimmer Cubes were activated with several sprays with my water misting bottles and once again, I could layer either of these colours to fill in the gaps or directly over the top of previous colours.

I like to have a baby wipe handy in case I would like to blend the colours a little more, you can simply dab or gently wipe to soften or remove anything you like.

Again, drying off with the heat gun also allows you to see the dried effect before you add or blend anymore.

The finished result is a very unique, hand coloured chipboard feathers..no two look alike, just similar tones of colours.

Here are some close up's of how the watercoloured feathers looked when they were layered together on the page. 

Why not give this technique a try this weekend, I am sure you can find some leftover chipboard pieces you could experiment on, play with colour combinations and see what you come up with.

Happy Crafting,

Mel.