*This article contains affiliate links. CLICK HERE for my full disclosure*
If you have been following the blog for a while, you know I tend to use the same eight supplies for almost all of my Bible journaling pages. (I wrote a post on those supplies HERE.) But lately, I have been feeling called to try some new things.
Honestly, I have been feeling really uninspired when it comes to Bible art. This happens to all of us at one time or another! So I slowed down for a couple of months and stopped creating as much. (Which I think is a great tactic sometimes- rest is necessary to rejuvenate our spirit). Then the new year came along, and I felt the pull to Bible journal again. I decided to change things up and dig through my office/craft room, which is brimming with supplies that I have used once or twice and then tossed aside.
That’s when I found my masking fluid! I used it a tiny bit for my watercolor sunrise page. And that just got all the juices flowing again.
I truly believe this thought process I had came from God. He wants us in his word and he will provide us with inspiration if we open our eyes. Sometimes the best way to get inspiration is to do something totally new or different to us. Change things up!
Using Masking Fluid
So anyways, masking fluid (or liquid frisket, or liquid mask) is similar to rubber cement. It’s used in art to cover a section of your canvas or paper so that you can paint over it and then peel the masking fluid off and reveal what was underneath it (i.e. white canvas/paper). There are SO MANY ways that masking fluid can be used. Today I’m just showing a glimpse of it.
You can buy masking fluid in pen style, or in a bottle with a needle tip. But the masking fluid I have is just a simple jar. They make ruling pens that are great for applying lines of masking fluid, but I have a ton of old cheap brushes and decided just to use one of those.
*Masking fluid dries up in the brush bristles, so you need to wipe or clean the brush very often while working with it or it’ll get clumpy. I have heard that wetting the brush and then rubbing it on a bar of soap beforehand helps with the clumping. I decided not to worry about saving my brush (since it was so old and cheap) so I didn’t spend a ton of time cleaning and just tossed my brush away. Basically- just use an old brush, because even with cleaning, it is likely the brush will get ruined.
The Tutorial
*Find my tutorial on how to paint a simple rose HERE. I use watercolor in the tutorial, but you can use the same technique for these masking fluid flowers.
I decided to paint some simple rose flowers with the masking fluid and my cheap paintbrush. I rinsed the brush every now and then and worked quickly to prevent clumping in the brush. I was able to paint the whole thing easily.
I found that the layer of masking fluid needed to be thin, but not too thin, to prevent bubbles. (I still had some “petals” where the watercolor got underneath, but it’s no biggy. IT DOESNT NEED TO BE PERFECT! IT’S JUST BIBLE JOURNALING.)
I dried the masking fluid really well with my heat gun and then painted over it with some pink watercolor. Once the watercolor dried, I rubbed off the masking fluid revealing the untouched Bible page underneath! SO MUCH FUN!
Watch the tutorial video below to see exactly how it was done!
Supplies Used
*This article contains affiliate links. CLICK HERE for my full disclosure*
- ESV Double Column Journaling Bible
- Masking Fluid
- Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors (48 color set). You can also get smaller sets like this 36 color one.
- Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen
- Cheap Small Round Paintbrushes– Link is for a multipack that I like.
- Uniposca White Paint Pen
- Craft Heat Gun
Other Helpful Tutorials
- Easy Painted Rose Tutorial
- Eight Must-Have Bible Journaling Supplies
- Brush Pen Calligraphy Basics
- Brush Pen Calligraphy- Bounce Lettering
- Faux Calligraphy Tutorial- Three Simple Steps To Beautiful Hand Lettering
- 10 Simple Hand-Lettering Styles (Plus a free cheat sheet)
