The Best Way to Use Watercolor Powders with Stencils

Have you tried using your watercolor powders with stencils and ended up with soft images or blobs of color? It can be easy to lose your images and feel frustrated. Today I’m sharing 3 of my favorite techniques with tips for getting the best results with watercolor powders and stencils.  

In my last video I shared the basics of how to use watercolor powders and the difference between brands. I also showed you how to use these fantastic watercolor powders on both black and white paper. If you haven’t seen this article yet, click here.

But today, let’s explore how we can get perfect results every time using stencils with watercolor powders!

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Adding Watercolor Pigment Powders Through a Stencil

The hardest thing about using watercolor pigment powders with stencils is how to get a beautiful blend and not lose your design.

Before we start adding powder, let’s make sure to use a stencil that’s in good condition. Some of mine have been well loved, so they don’t lay completely flat anymore. For this technique, make sure to use a stencil that will lay perfectly flat.

Small or Open Stencil?

The size of the open areas of the stencil will affect how well the watercolor powder will mix with water. This technique generally works better with stencils with large open areas.

Adding Watercolor Powders

Add the watercolor powder sticking to the open areas of the stencil. I’m using a combination of Nuvo Shimmer Powder, Brusho Crystal Colours and Lindy’s Gang Magicals for these projects.

Spritz your surface with water from at least 4-6 inches away. You don’t want too much water at once, or you’re going to end up with a lot of it seeping under the stencil. Be aware that this technique isn’t a perfect one, but it will create a unique design that you should be able to see.

I try to add enough pigment that I only need to hit it once with water and call it done. But it does take practice. You can get very soft images with vibrant color by adding in a lot of water. But to get the best results, try to be more liberal with the powder and go lighter with the water.

Making a Second Print

When you go to remove your stencil, if you have a lot of water and color on the surface of the stencil, flip it over onto another piece of paper. When you do this, you’ll end up with an image that is still beautiful and can be used for a creative project.

It’ll be less controlled than the other prints, but it’s a great way to use up that excess wet watercolor.

How to Get a Clear Stencil Design

If you’d like a clear stencil design, there’s an easy way to do this, though it gives a less blended look than the previous technique. To get the best results with this technique, you’ll need to use watercolor paper.  

Add your stencil to the page and spritz water through the stencil. When you lift the stencil, you should be able to see the shine of the water with a clear image on the watercolor paper.  

Now use your watercolor powders to shake color on top of the wet areas. You’ll notice that the watercolor pigment powder will react to the wet areas. Let the page dry, then shake off any excess watercolor powder.

You won’t get a super soft blended look this way, but you will see great definition in the stencil shape.  

Subtractive Stencil Techniques

So there’s a different way to create stenciled images with watercolor powders, and this is through a subtractive stencil technique. For this technique, start with a blended background using watercolor powders. If you’d like to know how to do this, check out this article: Watercolor Powders Demystified! You Need to Try These!

Subtractive Techniques with Water

Add the stencil on top of the dried watercolor powdered background. Spritz water through the stencil to activate the color. Use a paper towel to soak up the color. This will lighten your image a bit. Continue to do this until you reach the desired color. When you remove your stencil, you’ll see a difference between the background and the stenciled image.

This will be a subtle effect and won’t be nearly as pronounced as using bleach.

Subtractive Techniques with Bleach

To use bleach on your watercolor paper, add a bit of bleach to a bowl and saturate a makeup sponge with the bleach. Wring out the sponge until it’s almost dry. Pat it on the surface to remove color, then dab with a paper towel while wet to remove more color.

If you leave too much bleach on your sponge, you’ll get an effect like this. The bleach will get under the sponge and make your image very soft.

For the best results, use a sponge with only a little bit of bleach and dab on the surface once. Don’t go over several times, as this is when the bleach will start seeping under the stencil.

It may take a few tries, but then you should get a result that looks like this.

Just be aware that these subtractive stenciling techniques won’t create a perfect white image, but you will get variation with lighter color and texture that is unique to this technique.

How to Use These Watercolor Stenciled Pieces

There’s lots of ways to use these techniques in your next project. These can be a great start to a mixed media background, or the start of your next card project. This is a 5”x7” page I created using these techniques. My plan is to add this to a 5×7 journal, but this can also make a great card!

If you’re interested in seeing more watercolor techniques, check out these articles next:

Watercolor Powders Demystified! You Need to Try These!

How to Get Comfortable with Your Watercolors

How to Use Watercolor with Stencils

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