A Totally Surprising Watercolour Tip

Hello there

Hope you're doing well in your corner of the world.

As promised, today's post is short and sweet, *and* a complete change of tempo to those of recent times.

I've finally had chance simply to mess around with watercolour again, and I discovered something that's new to me. Drumroll please... It's that...

*You can use watercolour/(watercolors in the USA, I know) on thin card packaging* (as demonstrated in the picture below).

Autumn Leaves on Packaging Cardboard
(Sakura fineliners and Inktense washes used)

The idea behind it

I first had an inkling that this might work when reading an out-of-print book on Archive.org. (If you haven't discovered this *amazing* free site by the way, it's a treasure trove in itself, and an especially good source of written and pictured art lessons in book form). But I digress.

The book itself was actually about papercraft, and not art at all. I've even forgotten its title, as I actually read it a few months ago.

 But it mentioned in passing that all paper of a weight above a certain number (which I think was 250gsm, but don't quote me on that) was actually classed as a thin type of card.

As the best watercolour papers are usually 300gsm and above, this got me thinking. Could thin cardboard be a suitable (and very cheap, accessible and eco-friendly) substrate for watercolour?

The experiment

This week, when I finally had enough time to devote to fun experiments like this again, I tried it out on the next piece of available piece of thin card packaging that came into the house.

Lo and behold, drawing and painting on it actually felt smoother, more fun, and easier to use than a lot of the usual watercolour papers. It was able to take loads of washes without buckling, dried quickly, and gave a lovely smooth, bright  result.

For someone like me, who only ever thought the "official" type of paper would work, this was a total revelation.

Cautions

I should also add some words of caution here. I have no idea whether this works on all types of card, or whether I just got lucky. Time will tell.

Obviously, this is also best suited to practice work too, or things you plan to scan into a computer anyway (more on that soon). There is, by definition, nothing archival about it.

Finally, to be exact and technical, I was using Derwent Inktense watercolour half-pans, which are a little to different to other watercolours, and a water brush.

Finally

But if this sounds interesting to you, and you fancy playing around with the freedom of painting on something you were only going to recycle anyway, why not give it a go and/or suggest it to someone you know? 

(It was so much fun here, that I'll definitely be doing it again, and will update you on progress).

I promised you a short post, so that's probably more than enough from here for now. As ever, thanks sooo much for being here, and enjoy your week.

More soon.

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Big News: Bounding Squirrel Designs Are Now On Spoonflower

Hello there, and hope all's well with you.

It's not often I call any news round these parts "big".

But after having put in months of work learning and uploading behind the scenes, I'm super-proud to announce that you can now buy almost 30 of  my designs on Spoonflower's high-quality fabrics, wallpaper and home décor items, with many more designs to come in the future.

The top of the online shop-front currently looks like this (though those autumn leaves will change with the seasons and over time, as will the design selection):

Tap or click here to visit BoundingSquirrel's
storefront on Spoonflower.Com

Spoonflower prints every order on demand, and perhaps of special interest to people in the USA where it is based.

I can give you a flavour of the items they offer, such as this marmot tea-towel, (and indeed tea-towels generally, upon which I can now finally sell  my designs properly, thanks to Spoonflower).

"Cute 'N Quirky Marmots" Teatowel

And here's a  curated selection of my current designs, showing a small fraction of the variety of fabrics, wallpaper and other products made to last on Spoonflower:

Tap or click here to visit the Boundingsquirrel designs
 storefront on Spoonflower.com

But...

But the best, quickest and easiest way to see my new designs on Spoonflower,  (unsurprisingly) is to visit the BoundingSquirrel shop on Spoonflower.

Have fun there. And if you're already a Spoonflower customer, but you need a different size or colour of design..Or anything you'd love to see which isn't there yet, please message me on Spoonflower and I'll do the very best I can to help.

Phew again!

 After all the new items of recent weeks, I can promise you a complete change of tempo next week, to something much gentler and of the more "sketch-blog" type (both for your sake and mine :-) ).

In the meantime, thanks *so* much for being here, and have a great week.

More soon.

__________________________

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Cosy Halloween Autumnal Designs Are Here

Hello there

Hope all is well with you, and as promised, this week's post is full of Halloween printables, designed to be of the cosy and heartwarming kind.

Click or tap here to download and buy the full "Cauldron and Pumpkins"
Printable Cardmaking Sheet at Craftsuprint.com

The full sheet gives you a variety of embellishments and sentiments that are easy to cut out and use, and hence the option of making the same card design sound very different for each recipient. Simply change the sentiment tag for each person, and the card will have a very different feel.

Tap or click here to see and buy the full-res version
of this sheet at Craftsuprint

For example, the "Happy Halloween," sentiment tag might be perfect for general use, or with children or grandchildren. Those who honour the wheel of the year especially may prefer, "Happy Samhain."

Close up of the embellishments and
sentiments on the main "Cauldron and Pumpkins sheet

Or, for the friend who always jokes about their cooking (and/or who loves a joke anyway) how about adding the "An Alternative Way To Make Pumpkin Soup...," tag to their card?

If you want to add your own sentiment this sheet also has you covered, with a blank tag designed especially for it.

And if you'd like more...

If you'd just like to send a cosy and fun card, the main card sheet by itself gives you all you need.

However, if you'd like to add a matching insert (complete with an optional verse that carries on the "home and hearth" theme  from the main sheet) that's available too.

Cosy Pumpkin Blank and Verse Insert Sheet

And this beautifully bright and warm pumpkin border (that, as it's composed entirely of pumpkins, might also be useful in Thanksgiving projects if you're in the USA)...

Click or tap here to see the Cosy Pumpkin Border

A spookier Halloween?

I know that some people actually love the spookier aspects of Halloween. (Confession: I'm a scaredy-cat). But if you love spookier things, then I also have you covered in my Craftsuprint shop (with the added bonus that the colours and fonts from each Halloween set should all interchange pretty well).

Whether you're seeking cosiness or spookiness this year though, please remember that these are downloads, so (as I type on Oct 17th 2024, anyway) there should still be plenty of time to download, make, and send these items.

Finally...

Phew! Thanks so much for reading this unintendedly-marathon-like post, down this far, and for being here.

More soon.

___________________________

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