Using "Real Coffee" as a watercolor wash

[runlikearhino]

I saw an artist out here in Oregon that uses coffee as a wash over his ink drawings on watercolor paper. I had been doing watercolor over my ink stippling on watercolor paper. I had some black and white prints on standard card stock, so I decided to experiment what happens if I did a coffee wash over them. the originals looked pretty good, except I didn't tape them down,so they were pretty wrinkled. But, when I took them in to Lazer Quick and had them make copies of the wrinkled experiment they came out FANTASTIC!! Let me give you some directions how to try this: 1. Do a very light(and I mean light)wash over the whole picture. 2. When it dries, take your brush and make puddles of coffee on the piece. let it dry! 3. Repeat puddlings until you are happy with the piece. You'll know when to quit. The final effect are a wonderful marbling. I have also done the same technique with just regular water colors. The secret is to try it on card stock, because it resists the liquid put on it. I doesn't work nearly as well on cold press watercolor paper. It might work well on hot press paper. A question about whether it is archival or not on the originals remains to be seen, but the prints will definitely last if you use archival card stock. Anybody else try this technique?? Check out my album to see the results of Coffee washes! Ron in Oregon

[heather*fox*art]

Speaking of Tea for aging fabrics: For my wedding I had an antique wedding dress from my Great-Great-Great... Grandmother that was brought over from Ireland. Since I was on a limited budget I bought a white veil & used the tea-aging technique to get it to match the antique dress. It turned out pretty decently for a home done job. The paper burning technique is fun, but takes a bit of practice to know just when's the right time to blow it out. Also, make sure nothing flammable's around, lol! ;) -Heather

[dafffy]

Art that smells like coffee!! How can you go wrong??

[kengillam]

Turner used to dunk his watercolour paper in his coffee apparently, so you're in good company. Think it would take more than coffee dunking for me to paint like him :-) Ken

[runlikearhino]

Speaking of smelling like coffee, you can always scratch and sniff your originals if you get desperate. Doesn't work on the prints, of course(lol)!! Seriously, coffee does give an antique look to your work. Ron

[sunriseworkshop]

It's the tannins in coffee and tea that allow them to dye stuff. Nancy (from Texas) to my knowledge salting is archival. It's salt- the oldest known preservative in the world. I would not suggest trying a salting technique with dyed or scented bath salts, but you can use a variety of different grades of salts to create different effects. Check out my little gray mouse to see effects caused by a fine grained salt. Now, you don't want to get it wet after it's dried, but then you wouldn't want to get any art wet after it's completed. Salting has been used by artist for quite a while with fantastic results. Different molecular makeup than acid. It's not going to eat your paper and I've never had a problem with it turning an odd color either. Kate

[southwestartist.net]

I used salt for several years, then took a workshop with Tom Lynch. He told the class that he had to return 5 grand to a museum because they learned that he used salt on a painting that they owned...it alters the PH balance and makes it no longer archival. I took his word because of his knowledge and reputation. I stopped using salt. I'm not sure that you need to be concerned in this manner...I may even start using it again, but do be aware that it may create some problems later down the road...I'm so close to the 'later' that I'm starting to think 'don't worry about it"! LOL

[sunriseworkshop]

Hmmm... that's really interesting. I've never heard that and I know several other artists who use salting off and on as well. Off to do some research! Now, I need to know for sure, because I had been told in the past that it would not cause problems and it is a fun way to play with water based paints.

[chicthreadsofalaska]

I use the salt technique even though I know it is not archival. It can be beautiful and fun. If I ever enter in a museum, I'll not use it. Of course prints of the painting with salt technique are archival, as Ron said with the coffee. He made prints and they were beautiful. I know for a fact that coffee is acidic. They used to salt the roads in Michigan, and it would eat away the metal on the cars. I especially noticed this when I moved out west and cars were not eaten with rust because they used dirt and gravel.

[ms*patricia]

I have used tea, instant tea powder, sand, sea salt, etc. in my watercolors, but never thought of coffee. I shall have to try this 🙂

[runlikearhino]

Remember that I said coffee is probably not archival, but the prints you make will be. Ron in Oregon

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.