Q:How do you color in the spots without stitching? On your comic covers I noticed things like Thor's cape or Shulkie's skin were colored in, but you could still see the weave of the fabric on which you stitched the piece. Thanks!
I use watercolors! I love this technique because I want little itty bitty tiny stitches of detail AND color, something a satin stitch can’t deliver…
and I’m no Kevin Wada, but I’ll walk you through my tools and process for using watercolors on fabric! If you’ve painted before, you know the basics.
That’s a Prang set of 16 semi-moist watercolors, which is one step up from the cheapest set that my craft shop had to offer. Previously I used an 8-color set, and the expanded set just makes it easier to blend bright and sharp colors. (Basil Mae says hello)
Since most of the areas I’m covering are small, I only really use medium-small to tiny brushes:
Variety in both size and shape can be useful for different spaces between embroidered borders. You don’t need the fanciest brush, you just need a brush whose bristles won’t fall out while you work.
The watercolor stage is one of the last steps of my project. The majority of my stitching - especially all of the black outline - will be finished, so I know exactly what the borders of the dyed area will be.
I work with two cups of water for a two-step rinsing process, as well as working next to the sink to rinse the brush between major color changes. The properties of watercolor ink make them a sensitive pigment— the tiniest bit of blue will royally f- up that yellow you just finished blending.
Have a scrap of fabric available, the same type as your project, on which to test the pigment.
This scrap can also work to remove excess liquid from the brush, as well as let you test to see how the liquid color will spread from where you immediately place it on the fabric. I’ve learned that the more water I add to my pigment blend, the more it will bleed through the fabric away from where I dabbed the brush. And I haven’t been able to escape the color spread entirely, which is why I keep a white gel pen around.
To cover those areas where the pigment goes beyond the embroidered border, let the ink dry first. (I use a fan to help expedite the process.) Once it’s dry, gently cover the area you want with the white gel ink. If it doesn’t cover the color immediately, go back over it again once the first layer of white has dried.
The areas circled in blue are places where i had to cover a little bleed beyond the embroidered border. (Also works for pizza stains.) With more practice, I expect that I’ll be able to lessen the amount of ink spread, but it’s still nice to have “oops” tools. It’s never a perfect cover, but it’s good enough that other people won’t notice unless I point it out.
Sometimes the watercolor ink is actually visible on the black thread, so I just use a black ink pen (like a fountain pen) to dab over those areas to make the black contrast sharp again.
This! is a long post. I got a little carried away, but I hope it helps!
593 Notes/ Hide
- snippitystitches liked this
- craftables-and-such reblogged this from embroid-away
- pocketmodus liked this
- toastyboobs reblogged this from mossyminded
- toastyboobs liked this
- mossyminded reblogged this from last-stitch
- feralpickle liked this
- mossmx liked this
- coffeeworldsasaki liked this
- quillsrandomstuffyblog reblogged this from last-stitch
- robo-loo liked this
- dorkasaurusrexbitch liked this
- sailor-angry reblogged this from embroid-away
- bitchyaustralian liked this
- rrobertita liked this
- colddementia liked this
- kim-kimmerymakes reblogged this from embroid-away
- ume3umeko liked this
- beanamania liked this
- shinyfabulousdarling liked this
- librarysunbeams liked this
- philsbraincloud reblogged this from last-stitch
- aroanehring liked this
- reina-shitposts liked this
- miljenik-leibling liked this
- azzbackwardskas liked this
- empidonax liked this
- tortugannanas reblogged this from last-stitch
- tortugannanas liked this
- neokobita liked this
- searchingforthedoctor liked this
- azirtheshark reblogged this from doctorwhoofficial
- bigliitlepoopfight liked this
- ich-versteh-euch-nicht reblogged this from aerialsquid
- ich-versteh-euch-nicht liked this
- azirtheshark liked this
- pyte66-blogblog reblogged this from aerialsquid
- pyte66 liked this
- doctorwhoofficial reblogged this from seams-unusualbc
- eruvadhril liked this
- seams-unusualbc reblogged this from aerialsquid
- ze-gut-doctah liked this
- j0rnbl0g reblogged this from aerialsquid
- j0rnbl0g liked this
- jenny-dreadful liked this
- fruitgoat liked this
- impulsively-reblogging-stuff reblogged this from aerialsquid
- lairn liked this
- embroid-away posted this
- Show more notes