Have you ever tried dying paper with watercolor paints? I am making little junk journals and wanted to add some colorful pages similar to tea-dyed pages, but I want them to be colored. I decided to use up some watercolor paints I had laying around to do it. If you’d like to see how these sheets of paper turn out, continue reading.
She Paints For Ponies is reader-supported. When you click and purchase through links or images on this page, I may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Learn More.
SUPPLIES
- Watercolor Paint
- Containers to dye your paper – I used glass bakeware.
- Water
- Stir Stick – I used a small craft paintbrush.
- Copy Printer Paper
- Paper Cutter
I’m using a couple of different brands of watercolor paints, and I’m using the watercolor that comes in tubes. The brands I have on hand Artist Loft and Mondo Llama . I think the Mondo Llama brand is from Target.
I’ll just say right away that I preferred the Artist Loft brand. I used the Metallic Blue from the set pictured above, and it’s my favorite sheet.
DYING PAPER WITH WATERCOLOR PAINTS
First, because I’m using this paper for my little junk journals, I cut a bunch of copy printer paper with my paper cutter to size. I have a heavy-duty paper cutter that allows me to cut a lot of sheets of paper at one time. It’s a Premier brand, and it’s older, so I can’t suggest the exact one I have, but I’ll post a few at the bottom of this post from Amazon that have good reviews.
After I cut my paper, I picked a few colors from my watercolor collection and got started with coloring the paper.
I used glass bakeware dishes and filled them a quarter of the way with tap water. Then I squeezed in a tube of watercolor paint and gave a good stir to mix the paint and water.
After all my colors were ready, I started to add my paper pieces. I placed them in the colored water crisscross so that it would be easier to pull them apart when it was time to remove them from the colored water.
I let the paper sit in the water for about 1.5 hours to soak in the color.
Next, I had to remove the paper from the water to dry. Normally, I would place these paper pieces on a craft table, but we’re working on a basement remodel, and my crafting space is limited. So, I used my dining room table. Now, for the warning, this will stain your table if you don’t cover the surface. I decided to first lay down a towel and then cover the towel with plastic.
My sheets of paper were pretty saturated, and I let them sit for about two days to dry before taking them apart and stacking them.
I’m happy with the result. I think each piece has its own unique coloring and pattern. The pages look aged because of the wet-to-dry texture, but instead of that aged tea-dyed look, you get color instead.
I think dying paper is such a fun project. You never really know how the colors will turn out until the paper drys, and they’re perfect for junk journals.
Happy mess-making!
XOXO
Emily
As I mentioned, here are few paper cutters on Amazon with good reviews.
You can find more crafty projects under the LETS DIY – ARTS & CRAFTS category on the blog, or if this is your first time on to SHE PAINTS FOR PONIES, start HERE.