Team training for July ...

Welcome to our June edition of Team Training brought to you this month by team member, Deb McCleary.

Each month one of our team will inspire you with a little tutorial, tip or trick to help you in your scrapbooking pursuits.

Colorburst! by Deb McCleary

It's my turn with Team Training this month (first time for me!), and I thought I'd share with you one of my favourite ways to create interesting backgrounds using Ken Oliver's Colorburst.

I'll start with creating a watercolour background on watercolour paper.  I give the watercolour paper a spritz with water on the front (and here's a little tip for you - if you give it a quick spritz on the back as well, it will help to keep it flat while you work, instead of bowing up).

I then sprinkle the Colorburst powder on the paper and watch the first lot of magic as it reacts with the water and spreads.  (I've chosen Pthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson for this demonstration).

 I then add some of the Alizarin Crimson to the white areas on the paper.  As I spray more water to activate the Crimson powder, you can see that it also reactivates the Green powder, leading to a few muddy areas where they mix.

After drying it off, you can see that the overall effect is a very soft watercolour effect, with very vibrant colours.

Now for the fun part - here's something I discovered whilst playing around with my Colorburst and different surfaces.  I thought to myself, is there a way to dry off the surface after one colour has been applied, and hopefully stop the 'muddying' effect when more water is added - I didn't realise it until I tried it, that photo paper is the answer!

After spraying the surface, sprinkling the Colorburst powder and spraying again with water to activate the powder, I can then 'blot' the moisture away from the surface with paper towel - when I spray the surface again, the Green stays where it is - it doesn't get 're-activated'.  This means that I can add the Crimson over the top and not have it 'move' the Green at the same time.

As you can see from the side-by-side comparisons of the two backgrounds I've created, there is less blending with the one on the photo paper (and no 'mud' when mixing a primary and a secondary), which means you can create beautiful backgrounds that take advantage of the 'spread' of the powder with the Colorburst.  I've included some other samples of backgrounds I've created on photo paper below.

If you haven't already tried Colorburst, I highly recommend you get at least one or two of the colours to give them a go - they are heaps of fun and you can do so much with them - just check out online if you want to see the vast array of possibilities!

Thanks for tuning in!

Deb.xx

Don't forget to have your entry in for our challenge this month.  Some lovely prizes on offer - one prize by vote, another completely by random draw and a guest designer spot with RAK to offer one lucky entrant. You have until 11.55 on the final day of the month to have your submission linked.