Techniques with Masking Fluid | Photo Tutorial

Hi everybody!
This is Hussena here from Quill and Punch Works today with you for a new post highlighting Masking Fluid. I had very briefly talked about Masking fluid in my last post as well, today I wanted to share some  techniques which you can do with it. It’s a versatile medium and if you’re passionate about watercolouring, then this is something you must have in your stash. I will not talk much and dive straight into the post as there’s lots to share! 🙂

 

TECHNIQUE -ONE 

Masking with free-hand florals.

For this technique, all you need is a bottle of masking fluid, a paint brush and ofcourse some watercolour paper and mediums. To begin with, draw some loose florals using your masking fluid on a watercolour paper. I used a real-life stamp set for my inspiration. You can use any stamped image or even an illustration for your reference. After you use your paint brush to draw using your masking fluid, let it dry.

Once it’s dry, start adding watercolours around your masked areas. Let the water do all the work for you by picking very little pigment of watercolour as shown below. I have used Zig Clean Colour Real Brush pens for colouring but you can definitely use any medium of your choice. I’m not a pro at colouring nor a professional artist, I have just played around with the masking technique to create a look which was pretty to me.

I continued colouring free hand with my Zig Markers to create the delicate foliage and flowers like I had shown using the Tombow Dual Brush Markers in my post HERE. once I was happy with the floral arrangement, I die-cut this card panel using a die and mounted it to my card base. I stamped my sentiment and added few clear sequins and black paint splatters to finish off my card.

 

TECHNIQUE – TWO

Creating a geometric background using Masking Fluid

I love creating my own backgrounds and when I got this masking fluid, I thought of creating one using it too. So for this technique I have created a geometric background by drawing some triangles using a pencil and ruler on my card panel first.

Then using a finetip bottle applicator in which I had added the masking fluid, I traced over the triangles  and let it dry.

Once the panel was dry I colored the various triangles using my Zig markers.I just went with color choices randomly. The beauty of this technique is that the masking fluid prevents contamination of colors by creating a barrier just like in embossing, so you get to use multiple colors like I have used .

Once the entire panel is colored it’s time to rub off the masking fluid using your Adhesive Eraser.

After erasing the masking fluid, I used a Versamark Embossing pen and ruler to trace over the triangle edges and gold embossed the lines using the Ranger Super Fine Gold embossing powder.

And that’s it. I have created a card using this panel. Here’s a look at it :

 

TECHNIQUE – THREE

Masking using a Stencil

For this technique, you need a stencil in any size you want and Masking fluid. You will need a Fine Tip Applicator bottle here too as it’s easy to trace around the design using a Fine Tip. You can use a paint brush too if you are good at painting.

I took a six by six stencil and traced my design on some Canson Watercolour paper using the Fine Tip Applicator bottle. Once the panel was dry, I used Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink to go over the design to make it visible.

This is how it looks when the fluid has dried

I distressed the card design using two colours of Distress Inks- Squeezed Lemonade and Mustard Seed using a Blending Tool.

Finally take an Adhesive Eraser to erase out all the masking fluid.

Here’s my card using this card panel.  I used the Altenew Bamboo Roses set to stamp & fussy-cut the flowers and leaves. I coloured them using my Gansai Tambi Watercolours.The sentiment comes from the Altenew Amazing You set. I added few sparkling clear sequins to add the finishing touches. 

 

TECHNIQUE – FOUR

Masking Fluid to colour the background

First, stamp an image on watercolour paper or you can draw something free-hand also & apply the masking Fluid on the edges of your stamped image. so that the main focal image is not coloured while you create the background.

I stamped some florals using the Altenew Peony Scrolls set. Next I took my paint brush dipped in Masking Fluid to trace around the outline of the flowers. You can see it more closely below in the picture.

The Masking fluid that you have applied will act as a resist barrier and will not allow the background colour to seep into the image. I loosely watercoloured the background using my Gansai Tambi watercolour paints.

Once my background was dry, I erased the masking Fluid as shown in earlier techniques using an eraser. I coloured the flowers using coloured pencils and paints from Gansai Tambi.

 

TECHNIQUE- FIVE

Creating a Batik background using Masking Fluid

In this technique, it’s really important that you’re good at free-hand drawing, which evidently I;m not. But still I wanted to give this a go! I loosely scribbled some wavy patterns and some dots to create a night sky scene on a watercolour paper using a fine tip Applicator and masking fluid.

After the panel is dry, you can colour it in using any medium of your choice. I chose four different shades of Distress inks. You can see the vibrancy of the colours here very well. That’s why it’s very important to choose the right kind of paper while working with mediums like Masking Fluid.

Once you have distressed the panel, you can erase the fluid and either convert into a card panel or die-cut/punch from it. Whatever works for you!

  • That’s it from my side today. I hope you enjoyed seeing my post. I would love to know what you think. Thanks for dropping by!

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