Okay, so I tried a watercolor wash background in my journal and it warped everything

I got a new watercolor set last week and thought a light blue wash would look great behind my weekly spread. I painted it on, let it dry for an hour, and then went to write with my regular gel pens. The paper was so buckled and bumpy that my writing looked terrible and skipped all over the place. I had to copy the whole week's plan onto fresh pages, which wasted a whole evening. Has anyone found a pen that actually works on warped watercolor paper, or do you just avoid it for planning pages?

3 comments

3 Comments

fox.matthew25d ago

Totally used to think you could just power through with a heavier pen. Then my favorite fountain pen dug a trench right through a buckled page and splattered ink everywhere. Now I keep a cheap sketchbook just for testing washes first. Found that 300gsm paper barely moves at all, but my regular journal is maybe half that weight. Some people swear by taping pages down while they dry, but honestly I just save the watercolors for standalone art now.

ray36315d ago

My buddy had the same mess with his bullet journal. He tried a paint pen over the warped parts and it sort of worked, but the pages still felt lumpy. Now he just glues in a separate piece of watercolor paper if he really wants that look.

riveradams25d ago

My friend swears by taping pages down like @fox.matthew said, but I just use a ballpoint pen on warped spots now.