Watercolor jewelry painting is so easy and enjoyable – you will LOVE it!
After a very long break (since December!) I’m back with a new craft tutorial for you.
And Yes, there will be some free craft printables for you at the end of this post.
By the way, since I made my video, I have found a way to varnish the pendants without activating the watercolor.
I will be sharing that with you very soon!
Why am I so excited about watercolor jewelry painting – ooh lots of reasons!
Below are a few of the reasons why I love it so much.
But first, if you are here looking for my free printables page, click here.
The free printables that go with this post will not be there until a few days after this post is published.
However you can still get them straight away by scrolling down to the end of this post and finding the link to my Google Drive.
If you are looking for the tutorial video that goes with this post, click here.
Read on to find out why I love making jewlery with simple watercolor paintings.
1) Watercolour jewelry painting is EASY regardless of artistic ability.
You can consider yourself as being hopelessly non-creative and unimaginative and still make these pendants.
That’s right, you don’t need to be Vincent van Gogh to produce beautiful results and, you don’t need to paint big.
You don’t need to have ANY artistic ability to create the watercolor designs on these pretty pendants.
So what do you need to be successful at watercolor jewelry painting?
Well, you need the ability to experiment freely without worrying about the end result.
For many years I shied away from exploring paints and painting because I ‘couldn’t paint’.
How mad is that!
There was a time when I couldn’t drive either. Imagine if we shied away from driving because we ‘can’t do it’!
Remember how uncomfortable and clumsy it felt to get behind the wheel for the first few times?
Or doing anything new that became second nature to you through repeatedly doing it.
We may never produce excellent paintings worthy of even an amateur gallery, but that does not matter.
It’s the ride that counts here, not the desination. You don’t have to ever show anyone what you have painted unless you want to.
However, whatever you paint using the method I outline in my video, there will be tiny areas of it that will make stunning pendants.
Thats the joy of watercolor jewelry painting – you don’t need to think about ‘painting a picture’ as such.
2) Watercolor jewelry painting is very relaxing and meditational.
Being free in my mind to explore painting gives me the most amazing feeling of relaxation.
I don’t find meditation easy but when I get deep into in messy, experimental painting, I am lost to the world.
Also, I no longer care if anyone might walk by and judge what I am producing, I hardly notice people when I am ‘in the zone’.
Do I even care about the opinions of people who are too scared to face a blank surface and cover it with paint?
No, I don’t! My mission is to show them there is nothing to be scared of.
The stress busting potential of a few tubes of paint or a set of watercolor brush pens is immense.
Try it – you will soon see that once you get going, your mind kind of blends with the paint and nothing else matters.
3) With watercolor jewelry painting – you can work small
Even sitting in an armchair.
In fact, you can make these small designs just about anywhere.
Only last week, I sat in my car in the peace of a beautiful cemetery and created the image below left.
In my YouTube tutorial, you will see I work on very small pieces of watercolor paper.
And most of the little paintings you see in the video were done from the comfort of an armchair.
You can, in fact, do these little paintings anywhere – if you carry some watercolor brush pens and paper with you.
As I said, I did the painting above while sitting in my car.
I was parked in our beautiful cemetery in the pouring rain.
My husband was at the dentist nearby and so I took the time to sit and paint, because I carry my stuff with me.
It was a very peaceful 30 minutes in beautiful surroundings with lots of trees and birds and I got totally lost in what I was doing.
If you are painting at home, you don’t need to worry about covering the dining table with paper.
You don’t need to worry about having messy paints out if you live in a small, busy household.
All you need is comfy chair, a small watercolor pad, a set of watercolor brush pens and a blending water pen.
Once you get comfortable with painting tiny swatches, you may feel bold about going bigger.
But if you are painting purely to make jewelry, there is no need.
4) The materials don’t cost a fortune for watercolour jewelry painting
If you want to use watercolor brush pens, you will find there are many different brands to choose from
I have only tried two brands so far.
One is a set of Artiste watercolor brush pens, in a handy wallet, from Hobbycraft in the UK.
These pens are really good value for money and they come in a brilliant, sturdy folding wallet.
There are 36 beautiful colors and the pens are dual tipped with a fine end and a brush end.
At the time of writing this, this set costs £30 which sounds like a lot until you think about what you have at your fingertips.
You can slip this slim pack into a backpack or purse (I rarely use a purse, I love my backpack!) and you’re good to go.
You’ll have 36 colors to play with wherever you are.
Imagine buying the equivalent in acrylic paints and also having to carry 36 bottles of paint!
I’ve also got a set of 30 Chromatek watercolor brush pens and I love them!
They are slightly fatter than the Artiste ones, they don’t come in a wallet and they are single tipped.
However, you can buy a wallet if you want to carry them around and I rarely use the fine tip on any painting pen.
I have put a couple of wallets in my Amazon shops but do shop around your local art and craft stores to see wgat they have.
The Chromatek set is lovely to use and the fact that it comes with water brushes for blending is brilliant.
It also comes with watercolour tutorial pad, pre-printed with light pencil outlines for you to use in the free Chromatek tutorial on YouTube.
Watercolor pads can seem quite expensive too, however, if you are using it to create these tiny paintings, a pad will last ages.
In my Amazon shops (links below) you will find I have a brilliant product from Arteza.
I also have the tiny pendant bails I use in my video and lots of other craft items.
But these are just ideas and I do urge you to shop around locally if you can.
(Please read my Amazon Affiliate statement here.)
You can get 90 sheets of 300gsm watercolor paper for £16.61 in UK and $26 in the USA.
It comes in three spiral bound books of 30 sheets each. I have used this paper and I love it.
What about those cute little pendant bails I use in the video?
Those who have watched some of my other pendant making videos will know I sometimes make my own bails.
But these little stick on metal bails make life so much easier! And they are in both my Amazon shops.
But what about the rectangular punch I use to punch out the watercolor designs?
Well, I searched high and low to find a good quality rectangle punch the right size.
I wanted one that wasn’t going to make big pendants, I wanted something more dainty but it was hard to find anything.
Eventually I found Vaessen Creative in the Netherlands.
They have an amazing selction of craft punches and they had just what I wanted.
They had a punch that creates a rectangle which is 1.5inches from corner to corner diagonally.
That gives a rectangle that measures 1.25 inches long and 0.75 inch wide – a perfect size.
Unfortunately, they don’t ship to the USA at the moment – I did enquire and they told me they don’t.
But they do ship to the UK and many other countries.
Click here to go to their website.
If you are unable to get hold of a small rectangle punch, you could use a small square or round punch.
You can of course opt to cut by hand – it is just as good – just slower.
And now, as a thank you to my readers who get this far….free printables – what do I have for you?
I have three of my original abstract watercolor paintings for you to print off onto 6×4 inch paper.
So if you don’t feel like creating your own paintings, or maybe can’t at the moment, you can use my designs.
You can get them by clicking here.
I don’t have too many Terms & Conditions to using my free printables but please respect those I do have.
And for anyone who was unable to access my Christmas printables but couldn’t – sorry!
I didn’t realise I had not set the folder to be for anyone with the link.
I have changed it now but I’m sure no one is thinking of Christmas right now!
Of course you don’t have to stick to making rectangular pendants like I did – you can make whatever shape you like.
If you haven’t already done so – please consider subscribing to this blog.
I may be sharing my free printables on here to subscribers only at some point, so subscribe and make sure you don’t miss out.
Also, I’d love to have you join me on Instagram.
Hope you enjoyed this Watercolor jewelry painting post – I’ll be back very soon with more ideas for you to try.