Need help and advice with this technique

[guily5]

Hello stampers...
I'm a newish stamper and have been trying out water coloring with SU markers, blender pen and aqua pen. I have been trying to do the same background technique as the attached photo but mine comes out looking like a mess!! I use SU sponges and soft suede ink. I've tried swirling and dabbing but it looks nothing like this photo. I really like the spreckled effect that this card has. I would love any advice or tips to get this background look.Thank you so much
Cheryl :p

[Valli]

Do you have a stipple paint brush? Tap the bristles on your ink pad, then tap on the paper.

I just made a substitute for a stipple brush out of cardstock. Cut a fringed edge on a strip of cardstock (thinner fringe = smaller specks), then coil the strip into a brush point and tape it. Dab the fringe onto your inkpad and then onto the paper.

HTH!

[arlenevita]

You can get a brush wet with watered down ink and tap the brush against your finger or edge of your hand to get splatter. You can try tapping a sea sponge (rough with lots of holes) in ink and then tapping the sponge around the edge of the paper.

[shazsilverwolf]

Another way to get the speckles is to use a toothbrush. Tap the bristles on the inkpad, then drag your fingernail over the bristles, with the toothbrush over the card. Warning: Cover your worksurface, this can get messy! lol.

[Bahb]

Heather Telford uses a Kemper Splatter Brush that makes the splatter process more predictable. I've seen the brush priced from $2.67 to $9, online. She uses it in one of her watercolor videos so you can see if the resulting splatter is how you would like yours to look.

[QueenOfInkland]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valli

Do you have a stipple paint brush? Tap the bristles on your ink pad, then tap on the paper.

I just made a substitute for a stipple brush out of cardstock. Cut a fringed edge on a strip of cardstock (thinner fringe = smaller specks), then coil the strip into a brush point and tape it. Dab the fringe onto your inkpad and then onto the paper.

HTH!

Thanks for the 'stipple brush' reminder. I love the look you get with stipple brushes - I'm just gonna have to 'break mine out' soon

[poppydarling]

You could also try a stamp that has a speckled or small dotted pattern — I have a SU set with big sunflower style blossoms that came with a speckled type stamp for the center of those flowers. It looks almost exactly like what's in the corners of that example!