Road Test Friday with Lolly: Coloring on Washi

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's time for a Friday Road Test!

Today Lolly has a play with the 'Colour My Craft' washi tape from our November Kit, trying different colouring methods........

Hello, my crafty friends!
When I opened the November kit and saw the washi, I said it looked like something I could color on.  Well, I've never tried to color on washi, so I thought, "Why not?  Let's do this!"

The washi is so cute!  It is a collection of vases and jars with a crafty theme -- perfect for this month's theme of "My Crafty Friend."

I was thinking that if this colors well, it would be a great idea to color the washi to match project colors.

To get started, I cut six sections of washi and placed them on a sheet of Neenah white card stock.

I'm pretty sure I could have come up with three more coloring techniques  from my stash, but these six seemed to be the most obvious to me.




First off, I tried Copic markers.  I knew that permanent markers would work so why even "try"?  :)

I thought the Copic did great.  They colored smoothly without streaking, though the colors are a bit muted on the washi tape.  The lighter colors of markers don't even show up on the washi, so the trick is to use a bolder color than desired.

The next ones I tried were Prismacolor pencils and watercolor pencils.

These applied to the washi in a similar manner -- not well at all.  The colors look okay, but the washi is the wrong texture to grab or "hold" the pencil color, so it felt like I was trying to color on wax.  Of the two, the Prismacolor worked much better.  When I applied water to the water coloring, it did well and stayed within the bounds of coloring, but it was an overall disappointment with the difficulty of application.

 Next, I tried oxide inks and gelatos.

The oxides win.  the color applied smoothly and blended perfectly.   The end result was a professional-looking washi!  With the gelatos, the color wanted to streak and not lay down a smooth color.

And, finally, I tried chalks.

I think this was the big surprise for me.  The chalks were vibrant and applied well.  I used a cotton swab, but I recommend using a sponge for even color application. 

Here's the completed chart:

I realized afterward that I should have used similar colors for the oxides, gelatos, and chalks, to give a better vibrancy comparison.  My final impression is that if I want to color the individual images, I would use the Copic markers (alcohol markers), but if I want the look of a color wash, I would go with the oxides or chalks. 

This is a fun washi and fun road test.
You can check out the process HERE.

Thank you for coming along on this road test, my crafty friend!
~Lolly

http://www.LollyPalooza.net