One of my favourite new product that had burst onto the craft market recently is the watercolour pigment powders. There are lots of makes on the market and no matter which ones you choose they really are great fun to play with and give you lots of different looks.
The Fruit Pixie, who I design for, sells the IndigoBlu luscious pigment powders and the Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders (available in the Fruit Pixie Etsy shop)
But what are they exactly?
Well, they are dried watercolour pigment mixed with mica powder. They react with water to give you a watercolour paint. The beauty of them is they are so fine you can sprinkle them onto your project and they give you tiny bursts of shimmering colour. You can also mix them with water to make a shimmery paint to use in the same was as you would any watercolour.
Are they easy to use?
Each make of these pigments come in different packaging. With all of them though you need to keep them as dry as you possibly can as a touch of moisture and they will react.
The Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders come in a plastic bottle, the same as their PVAs, they have a tiny hole that you can puff the powder out of to give you a really fine amount or you can knock the powder out if you want more of the powder in one go. They then have a screw on top to keep the powder nice and dry when not in use.
The IndigoBlu luscious pigment powders come in an open neck container. You need to use something to scoop the powder out of the container and sprinkle onto you project. You can use a lolly stick or coffee stirrer but I found the handle end of a medicine spoon used upside down gave you a tiny scoop with high sides so easy to sprinkle tiny amounts each time. You need to remember to put the lid back on to the pot each time to keep the moisture out
What can I do with them?
There are lots of ways to use them but to start with you basically use them wet or dry.
Wet - place a drop or two of water onto your pallet ( you can reactivate them after they have dried so I recommend using something you can keep to use again later like a plastic pallet ) them add the pigment powder and mix into a paint. You can then use as you would any other watercolour. Once you have finished allow it to dry out. You can then re-activate it again by adding water.
Dry - As you will be adding a lot of water to your project I recommend using a watercolour paper for this. Spray your paper with water and while it is still wet sprinkle the pigment powders over the top. Watch as they burst into life! You can continue to add colour. Once you have the look you want add a fine spray of water over the top at the end to make sure all the pigment is activated. Dry flat. You can dry it with a heat gun. Of course you can then spray your project with water again and add another layer of colour if you wish.
Once these pigments are dry they Don't need any fixing. If you have areas that rub off once it had dried it is because they have not been activated with water. You can rectify this by spraying it with water.
This dose take a bit of practice and of course you will never get the same effect twice. Don't be two disappointed if you first few try Don't quite work, enjoy the process and just get to know how these powders work.
Here are a few projects I have made using both the wet and dry method.
For this card I stamped the IndigoBlu stamp Lollypop tree and heat embossed it in white powder onto watercolour paper.
I then sprayed the paper with water and added the Indigoblu luscious pigment powders in pink and blue along with the Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders in silver.
I die cut the tree out in a circle with a larger circle also in watercolour paper.
I made some of the gold Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders up into a paint and painted the larger circle to act as a mat for my main image.
The card blank was also spritzed with water and sprinkled with the same pink powder I had used on the tree.
Using the off cuts of the tree image I cut a band to go across the card and the die cut hello.
Card 2 -
This card was made in the same way. Heat embossing the stamped image, this time from the Paper Artsy Lynne Perrella collection LPC025. Sprayed with water and then pink and gold powders sprinkled over the top.
The mat for the main image was also sprayed with water and sprinkled with the same powders.
The card blank was painted with the gold pigment made up into a paint.
The two lozenges were stamped and heat embossed in black powder then sprayed with water and pigment powder sprinkled over the top.
Card 3 -
Although this card looks slightly different it is still made using the same methods.
The main stamped image, from the same stamp set as the one above, was stamped onto watercolour card and heat embossed with white powder. Then sprayed with water and sprinkled with blue and silver powders.
The mat behind was painted with the blue pigment powder mixed with water to form a paint.
The little lozenges this time though were stamped onto some of the offcuts from,the main stamped image and then heat embossed in black powder. I think that gave them a stronger look perhaps?
I then used a Chinese book paper to mount them all onto before adding it to the card blank.
So three different cards made using the pigment powders. There are so many ways you can use these products though. I am sure I will be showing you more ideas to use them in the near future.
Do have a go with them, if you enjoy your mixed media style projects you are going to love them, I promise.
You can find the IndigoBlu luscious Pigment Powders here-
Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders-
In The Fruit Pixie Etsy Shop
The IndigoBlu lollypop tree stamp -
Paper Artsy Lynne Perella stamps-
Embossing powders-
Card blanks-
