Hi everyone
Today I have something a little bit different for you. I have recently been working on lots of things in my craft room – trying to get myself organised and create a space that really works for me. I have also invested in some watercolor mediums that I have wanted to buy for some time, and today I have a video showing how I have stored my new Peerless Watercolours.
I have been looking around for some time to see how other people have stored their Peerless and many of them use a photo album system with plastic pockets inside. The size of photo album that most people in the US were using was a 4″ x 6″ system and it was hard to find that here in the UK, at least not without “photographs” or “photos” written on the front. A friend of mine suggested the Simple Stories Snap Flipbook as an option, so I investigated that and decided to give it a try. The video is below, but I have also outlined in this post how I went about swatching the inks.
The Simple Stories Flipbook is 4″ x 6″ and contains 10 pocket pages. I cut some 4″ x 6″ Arches Cold Pressed watercolour panels and drew sections in pencil so that I could swatch 4 colours in each pocket. I used Arches cardstock as I am most likely to use that when I use the inks, so it’s always best to swatch on the cardstock of your choice. I have the Peerless Watercolor Complete Edition and the Peerless Watercolor Bonus Pack and in total that is about 55 swatches to create. I then went ahead and swatched all the pretty colours onto the cardstock. It was a little tricky as I had to combine the two packs and the sheets in the Bonus Pack are not labelled – that gave me a small headache and I will make sure when I buy more, I label them straight away. Having said that, a little bit of pigment goes a long way so I hope I am not replacing them for a while.
Next I cut a 1.25″ square from each of the pigment sheets from the packs that I own and I adhered them to the front of each plastic pocket with double sided tape. This means there is very little bulk when the Flipbook is closed. And it also means that when you are using the inks, if you flip from page to page picking up different colours, it doesn’t matter if they are a little wet as they will only touch the black of the plastic pocket that is in front of them. I will most likely add an acetate sheet at the front of the book so that the four front swatch pieces don’t mark the inside of the Flipbook. It is a simple system and similar to the one that is used in the US, but I think the flipbook is so pretty and not bulky at all, plus it comes in lots of gorgeous colours!
So I hope that you found that useful. Swatches always take me ages but I love them when they are finished!
Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Crafting.
Debbie P says
Fantastic idea for the paint swatches. Thank you for the great tip.