TUTORIAL: How to Create a Wax Resist for Watercolors

Here's a fun technique that you can do with watercolors and wax paper, two supplies you might already have on hand.  This is a great technique to use in your art journal - the possibilities are endless!

Here's what I used:

*Yasutomo & Company Authentic Chinese Watercolors

*Niji Waterbrush

*Watercolor paper or sketchbook/art journal

*Wax Paper

*Pencil

Step One: Place a piece of wax paper on top of your watercolor paper or sketchbook page.  Draw some shapes or a pattern with a regular pencil (a regular wooden pencil works better than a mechanical pencil, since you can press harder).  Press hard so that the wax from the wax paper will transfer onto your paper surface.

Step Two: Choose your watercolor from the set.  I used #55, light green, since it's one of my favorites.

Step Three: Squeeze some of the watercolor onto a palette.  Using your Niji waterbrush filled with water, add a few drops of water to the color to thin it down, then mix it up a bit.

Step Four: Paint over the area where you had previously transferred wax paper to your watercolor paper surface.  You will find that the wax from the wax paper acts as a resist!

There are so many fun uses for this technique!  I hope you will enjoy using it in your artwork. 

Happy Friday! :)

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In the interest of full disclosure, I am a current member of the Niji Design Team and was given the Niji Waterbrush and Yasutomo & Company Authentic Chinese Watercolors by Niji/Yasutomo.  As always, I promise to only recommend and use products that I love!