Art Experiment: ink and gouache wash-off

Hello craft fans! This blog post follows me as I try my first ink and gouache wash-off. I wanted to show the process and not just the finished product. This is the first time I've ever done this, but the results were really neat and I want to share!

Step 1: I started by transferring my drawing onto watercolour paper. I used Arches cold press for it's texture and because this paper can really take a beating (which is important as we'll see later). After penciling in the lines where I want the ink to go, I washed in some watercolours in red and yellow. This is so you can see where you are painting your white gouache onto the paper (instead of white on white), but I was also hoping for some staining which is why I used different colours.

Step 2: After the watercolour is completely dry it's time for the gouache! Anywhere you want white on the paper you paint with the gouache. Wherever the gouache doesn't cover, ink will absorb into the paper. (Yes I almost forgot the photo for this stage so you can see some ink wash on the top.)

Step 3: Using an indelible ink, lightly brush a coat over the entire surface. The ink will soak into the paper wherever there are openings. The idea is that because the gouache is water soluble but the ink is not, when you expose the paper to water, the gouache will break up and come off taking the ink on top with it, while the ink that has bonded with the paper stays.

Step 4: Wash it all off! I took my paper and ran it under a tap while wiping the paper with a cloth to remove excess gouache. Some areas took a little scrubbing, but otherwise, the gouache melted off the paper taking the layer of ink with it. I taped the paper down and let it dry completely before doing anything else to it. I was happy to see that the watercolour did some staining! Another effect of the wash is that there are different tones of grey where the gouache was not laid down very thick and the ink stains the paper.

Step 5: After the paper is dry I did a couple touch ups with ink and added the alchemical symbols in the ring. Then I used watercolours on top to add more depth and colour to the piece. Viola!

Sacred and Profane by Sabine Gorecki 2012.

When I first read about gouache and ink wash-off, my mind went immediately to old woodblock prints of werewolves. I envisioned a werewolf in a pose something akin to DaVinci's Vitruvian Man, but I also wanted to work with a female form. Thus Sacred and Profane was born.