DIY Watercolor Paper Block // #worldwatercolormonth Video Lecture - Master

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today I'm going to show you how you can
make your very own watercolor block a
watercolor block is like a pad of
watercolor paper except it's found on
all four sides and then they put a
little notch where you can cut off your
top piece after you're done painting it
so you always have a fresh sheet of
paper on top and it's got a little cover
to keep your pad clean and I wanted one
that would fit inside my little coy
sketching box that I like to use in the
summer because I find that I can hold my
box like this and I can use my palette
and I could paint right there in the lid
so before I would just cut paper to that
size and just use one sheet at a time
but this is so much better because I've
got the stability of a pad and then when
I'm done that top painting I just cut it
off and I've got a fresh sheet ready to
go so this is really easy to make and
you probably have all the supplies
you're going to need at home you're
going to need some watercolor paper and
I took a 9 by 12 sheets and I just cut
them into quarters so you can get four
sheets from each page I used three
sheets of nominal paper and got 12 4 by
6 sheets actually this is 4 inches by 5
and 3/4 only because I've wanted it that
size so it could fit my coy sketch box
so if you're trying to fit it into a
particular palette just measure it and
that's pretty easy then cut everything
to that size then I have a piece of
sacrificial paper that's going to go on
top of the stack so that I don't ruin
any when I'm gluing and you'll see why
in a minute
you're also going to want a piece of
cardboard cut to the same size as your
stack and I just use this leftover
chipboard you might want to use
something a little heavier if you're
doing a larger pad in fact you
definitely want to use something heavier
like maybe a mat board or a really hard
backing from like an old watercolor pad
that will just give you a little more
stability for the small size of a pad
this was going to be just fine
and you're also going to need a larger
sheet of like scrapbook paper try to get
something that's a little heavy or you
could again use like chipboard from a
cereal box or something or just
something recycled it's basically just
to kind of keep your pad of paper clean
and you want it cut to the same width as
your paper and then longer because
you're going to wrap it around and you
can trim it to size afterwards so I just
this was 8 and 1/2 by 11 scrapbook paper
and I just cut it so that I have the
word love there alright so then you're
going to sandwich your watercolor paper
between your cardboard and your
sacrificial sheet here up top and just
try to make sure they're lined up as
good as you can get them now I cut these
by hand with my paper trimmer so and
it's not like the most accurate paper
trimmer in the world but it's pretty
good it doesn't have to be exact then
I'm just using close pins to clip these
together and I basically want to do two
on each side now I'm going to want a
notch for cutting because otherwise
you're gonna have all your papers glued
together and that is probably not what
you want you're going to want to be able
to take them apart after you've done a
painting so I'm clipping two on each
side on three sides then I'm just going
to put one in the middle here this is a
side that I'm going to have my gluing
notch on or my you know my unglued
section my unglued notch if you've ever
used a watercolor block you know what
I'm talking about
so then what else I have is a hot glue
gun and glue sticks and a little
silicone spatula and I'm actually going
to make sure I have a couple extra glue
sticks before we begin just in case I
run low there's nothing fancy about the
glue sticks I'm using either just you
know cheap hardware store office supply
store or craft store glue sticks so what
I'm going to do here is I'm going to put
some glue right here on the edge and I
don't have to be too careful because I
have the sacrificial paper on top so I
don't have to worry about ruining my
watercolor paper and you've just got to
smooth it out and kind of push it in to
your paper you can neaten it up on the
bottom of your pad but you're not even
going to see the bottom so don't worry
about what gets on the top and the
bottom what you're going for is just a
if you could see that's kind of just
like smooth glossy area so then I'm
going to go on this side of this clip
right because I want to leave that gap
remember I do have that notch so I could
cut things apart and I'm going to do
another little bead and you'll get the
hang of this now traditionally use like
a wet padding compound to do this but I
didn't have any and I didn't want to
spend the money because it's kind of
expensive so I decided I would see if
what I had worked now I could see right
there that I missed a spot so I'm gonna
put some more glue right there and
spread it out these little spatulas are
really handy if you don't have these you
could probably fashion something out of
just a the dollar store even has little
inexpensive silicon spatulas
I don't think it would hurt you borrow
from your kitchen then just peel it off
and wash it before you use it with food
I really don't think it's going to hurt
anything so then you can see here
probably if you can if I can catch the
light just right you should be able to
see that there's no glue right there and
that's what we're going to be able to
use to cut off our sheet after we paint
on it and I'll demonstrate that in a
second after this is dry so now we've
got to move our Clips around a little
bit actually I don't really need to clip
that sykes we've already glued it I just
need to move that and I am going to move
this one over to the edge and since
we're working dry we don't need to have
a book press or do any like heavy-duty
clamping this is going to be plenty of
pressure which is really nice especially
for a small pad like this so again I'm
going to smooth out I find that if I
could do this in one stroke I get a much
nicer finish just make sure you've
caught every every sheet of paper when
you do it and you'll be all set I find
just a continuous bead it's hard to kind
of do without any waste you're going to
have a little bit of waste of glue but
glue sticks are pretty cheap especially
compared to like the bookbinding padding
compound you know you just kind of want
to get an even um an even coating and
then just spread it out and then if you
see that it's kind of coming apart they
go ahead and just kind of pinch it with
your fingers it only takes a second to
set up so you can definitely do that I'm
going to positive all the furnace stops
its course and we'll finish up that back
side okay now all we have to do is this
last side and this one is going all the
way across remember we only had to leave
that notch for one side and we'll try to
give it a pretty even bead all the way
across and don't worry if it gets a
little messy because we have the
sacrifice to kind of push it back there
make sure I get that corner good we have
that sacrificial sheet on the top so I
got a big clump in there I'm going to
pick that up before it dries and put a
little bit more you're going to make
sure you get the corners good they tend
to be the area where where the
the papers want to separate and then if
you feel like it's coming apart at all
you can hand just push it with your
hands this is a small piece so you know
if you're doing something really big you
might when have a couple rulers you
could kind of squeeze it or just a
couple pieces of wood where you could
just kind of squeeze it while that's
drying but with a small pad like this I
really wouldn't worry about it too much
now while that's just completely setting
up I'm just going to set it aside and I
want to show you just what I did while
the furnace was running and I was
pausing the video I took some scraps
just some old scrapbook paper that I had
in my stash and I end up with these
weird
thin strips when I make envelopes so I
have all these like the leftover strips
and I just did the same thing except all
I did was I bound it on one end and then
just kind of wrap some other scraps
around it just to kind of make it a
little more decorative but you could
stick that in your purse and then you
you know write your little note and then
you can just peel you know that sheet
off and have a fresh sheet underneath
this is great for if you have a lot of
kids at home or if you have any kids I
like to draw or like to play store or
you know play waitress or whatever you
could make up a bunch of these little
pads with your scraps and then they
would go to good use you know unless you
know of course you use your scraps you
could just use your scraps for scrap
booking but if you happen to have an
awful lot of leftover like I do that's a
great idea for them okay so now this is
pretty well cool you'll know it's dry
when it's cool you can remove the
sacrificial paper here and to do that I
like to use either like a butter knife
or a pallet knife something that's thin
and not like really sharp you want
something that's kind of dull and I'm
gonna get my knife underneath that
sacrificial piece that's that scrap of
paper or scrap that we get it could be
anything it could be like a it could be
anything could be an old homework paper
it doesn't matter and then we're going
to slice that right off so this is how
you end up after you do it painting this
is how you remove it from your block and
you have a fresh sheet underneath so
we're going to slice that right off it's
held pretty tight actually so that's a
good sign
all the way around here and that's why
we need that notch because that's where
we put our knife in there and then we're
left with a nice fresh sheet of
watercolor paper if you do have any um
any gummy bits like that you can go in
with a craft knife like this and just um
kind of Whittle them off just watch over
your fingers it doesn't take much
pressure to remove the hot glue just
file away any bits like that if they
bother you if they don't bother you then
leave them be not gonna hurt anything
and now we're going to make our
wraparound cover and I thought this was
really pretty I want this to be on the
top I like to have my notch that we cut
on the inside so so it just kind of
stays protected because it's the weakest
part of our whole block so what I'm
going to do is just line that up like
that and then I'm just going to wrap
this paper around that I've already cut
to fit ah yeah that's I want to do it
kind of like that because I if I didn't
care about that love showing and then I
would have had the extra over here so I
could have just so I could fold it back
and have a little more a sturdy cover
like I did I'll show you the other one
again how I did that let's move this out
of the way here and since our pad is
protected we can work right on this
table not worry about how clean it is
I'm just going to crease this so I have
a nice cover and then I'm going to make
another crease where I have that second
kind of fader finger fold there
and then we can put this right back in
here I want the I want that in here at
the crease and then I'm just going to
make a mark so I could go and trim off
the extra paper and I'll be right back
after it from that on my paper cutter
and then all I need to do is just kind
of glue and I don't you know you don't
have to have it wrap all the way around
like that I just thought it looks a
little neater I'm going to put a little
glue on the back there you don't need
too much I just think it kind of
pretties it up if you and I wouldn't put
too much on there so it will dry before
you get a chance to fold it around then
just fold around as neat as you can and
there you have I'll want a color block
so you'd go on to the field like if
you're using your little sketch box here
you could pop pop it right up there and
do your painting and then when your
painting is all done and you want to
freshen the paper all you do is you put
your palette knife right in here right
in the little notch you left and you
slice off that top sheet and you get a
fresh sheet underneath and what I like
to do is usually keep like a ziplock
baggie or an envelope in my painting bag
and I'll put my my finished paintings
inside the envelope so I don't have to
worry about them getting damaged so okay
I wanted to do a follow-up because I did
take my watercolor block and my paints
out to the beach the other day and I
decided to try it out make sure it
worked and nothing lifted my painting
stayed down while I painted it and now
I'm just going to show you how to remove
that painting I know I showed you with
the with the sacrificial paper but I
just want to show you after you're done
painting all you do is you take a little
palette knife or a butter knife or
something that's thin but dull and just
go right around the edges and you cut
off that top sheet okay so there's our
painting and there's our fresh sheet
ready to go for the
next time you close up your little block
and what I actually did when I was
sitting stuff sitting on my beach chair
on the shore what I did was I just
folded this back and set it right there
and held it and I loved this little step
because it's the paint's are decent but
it's not so expensive that I worry about
um about messing up so I would just you
know hold it like that and right in my
lap and be able to mix my colors and
paint and it worked out really well I'm
glad I made this to fit the little put a
little lid there because it makes it so
much more useful so I just wanted to
show you how I made it with that and
just prove to you that it does work and
just you know as a reminder if you're
going to do this for a larger sheet of
paper you're going to want a thicker
cardboard base and you know just make
sure you have your pages glued down and
a larger sheet it may still ripple a bit
but they it does ripple with blocks to
even arches ones I've noticed if you're
getting a big sheet sometimes did you
separate towards the end I think this is
a great solution especially for your
smaller blocks and certainly it's a
money-saving one so let me know what you
think in the comments below I'd love it
a thumb give me oh my gosh I had love if
you'd give me a thumbs up if you enjoyed
this tutorial and share it with your
other crafty and artsy friends to
watercolor because hopefully they'll
find that useful and save them a bunch
of cash so thanks so much for watching
until next time happy crafting