There are always a few prints that just don’t come out well. Maybe the ink is uneven, or the paper slips slightly. For whatever reason, not every print is ‘good enough.’ So, what do you do with the bad prints? You don’t really want to just throw them out, but on the other hand, they’re just taking up space and cluttering up the studio.

I decided to use my ‘junk’ prints to test out a few methods of hand-coloring my prints. Who knows, if it turns out well, it might be a nice alternative to offer, instead of just a single color print.

For a first trial, I tested watercolors and Derwent Inktense pencils to color in some of my passion flower prints. Derwent Inktense pencils are a water-soluble pencil that gives an ink-like intense color once wetted. They’re similar to watercolor pencils, but the colors are more intense.

So, here I have a few examples. I’m not entirely happy with either method, though I think I like the Inktense pencils better—the colors are more vibrant and it’s much easier to control where the color goes compared to using watercolors. Watercolor pencils would probably work similarly as far as control, but the colors would be less intense. I might give that a try at some point.

What do you think? Do you like the watercolors or the Inktense pencils better? Or do you prefer the uncolored version? Let me know your thoughts!

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