What if I Sharpie Watercolored Coasters?
- Lauren Erickson
- Apr 6, 2018
- 3 min read
I've never watercolored in my "adult" years. Let's just preface this whole experience with that.
This week my splendid stepmom Julie chose my pins. I was excited because I think she's a pretty creative and crafty person. The two pins she chose were DIY Sharpie Watercolor Coasters and Eggshell Planters.
Sharpie Watercolor was the favorite on Instagram this week. I love Sharpies. Who knows why? Maybe its a crafty person thing.
Supplies
As always, I headed to Walmart for the supplies I didn't have. I needed ceramic tiles, rubbing alcohol, and a spray fixative. I didn't know what a spray fixative was, but I found a spray sealer that I thought would work. For some reason, it took me for-freakin-ever to find rubbing alcohol. I think I scoured the entire store about three times before I found it, next to the bandaids by the medicine counter. I also had trouble finding ceramic tiles, and after asking, found out they didn't have any.
I went to Joann's; I thought they'd have them because they are super crafty right? Nope. But the employee there directed me to the hardware store. Of course! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I had a little too much fun at the hardware store...but I did find my ceramic tiles. I got all 4 for $0.47, score!
(above: me wishing I had my own place. below: fun fact)
People usually laugh when I tell them I used to work at my local hardware store. I guess I don't come off as a handy type of person. But I was good at my job. Moving on..
Here are all of my supplies, plus the Sharpies I had that weren't completely dried out. I had to resist buying new ones.
Sharpie Time
I found the original blog post about DIY Sharpie Watercolor and followed those directions. It was from the Sharpie company itself, so it had to be good.
I colored the first tile with a light blue and peach color, trying to match how the tutorial did it. I put some alcohol on it right then, and it didn't look very good. So I set it aside and colored the rest.
I wish there was more direction on how to color the tiles. Oh, and last minute I scribbled a blue line over the orange, red and yellow one.
Rubbing Alcohol
The tutorial said to use an eyedropper or a stirring spoon to drop rubbing alcohol on the tile. I didn't want to spend money on an eyedropper tool, so I just used a regular spoon and a really small measuring spoon. I probably should've gotten an eyedropper. I think it might have worked better.
I also put down this lovely green beach towel on my desk, to prevent stains and such.
I spooned little drops onto the tiles and attempted to focus on the areas where different colors met, so I could get that marble effect.
On the last one, I think I accidentally used a different type of marker for the black part, and thats why it wasn't mixing. This was a lot harder than I thought! It looked so simple in the tutorial but it was difficult.
More Alcohol?
I kept adding more rubbing alcohol to cover the whole surface of the tile and tried to salvage the sadder coasters.
When they were drying, there was this weird almost crusty layer where I colored the sharpie. Also, they suggested using contrasting bright colors, but then they mixed to create a gross brown/black color. I think that the Sharpies needed to be newer for this DIY to turn out it's best.
Spray Fixative
After about an hour, I sprayed each of the coasters with the sealer. I held it about 8 inches away from the tile. This part was easy.
Final Results
Two of the tiles turned out pretty good and the other two turned out not so great. I guess 2/4 is pretty good right? I had fun doing this project though! I think I just need a little more practice, and maybe some new Sharpies.
Suggestions
-Use newer Sharpies
-Use an eyedropper
-Don't leave any white space on the tile when coloring
-Color the sides of the tile
-Buy extra tiles, just in case you mess up, they were cheap
Thanks for reading about my What if Wednesday adventures! DIY Sharpie Watercolor was about a halfway success. I want to try it again though. Let me know what you think, any ideas for improvement?
See ya next week!
Comentarios