Friday, July 8, 2016

DIY watercolor palette for the Midori

I bought a Midori! We have a trip coming up next month and I wanted to bring a journal with me, so after much thorough research (as in, watching tons of YouTube videos :) I went for the Midori - it just seemed aesthetically beautiful, and so useful to fit in everything you might need. Then I ran into the issue of wanting to have my watercolors with me. One option was to make a little tin to hold them, but that meant I would always have to bring it, and that wasn't good enough - I wanted something that came with the Midori automatically, without having to pack it. The next option was to purchase the Peerless watercolors - they come in paper swatches that you can make your own little booklet out of, and insert into the notebook. I searched for a good deal, but didn't manage to find one. Also, I felt like I would be spending a lot on them, and might have second thoughts about using "too much" or "wasting".

So that brought me to thinking I needed to come up with my own idea... and that's when I realized I could use flat discarded packaging and the Tim Holtz gears packaging was perfect. You use the inner insert that holds the gears in place - it is virtually flat, but has just enough depth that it can hold a Lot of watercolor. The circles are large enough that I ended up pouring a lot of paint in them, so it should last a while. Best thing is it's totally refillable. I have the 18-pack of Holbein professional watercolors, and I picked my favorite 12. So I have professional-grade watercolors that will permanently come with my notebook. I insert it into one half of the Midori kraft folder.

I used a piece of watercolor paper for the cover and did swatches of the paint on it. I then did an inner insert of plastic to protect the pain, and when I open it, it lies flat and that side becomes the side I mix the paint on. I used my old 7Gypsies gaffer tape to hold it all together - it's very strong, has a nice texture since it's made of cloth, and is very pretty. All I need is my water brush (I love those!) and I'm ready to paint on the go, any time, anywhere. And rather than spending money, I'm making good use of what I already have in the house!

If anyone wants an actual video tutorial, let me know, and I will make on for my YouTube channel, and take you though the process of cutting the materials, properly filling the "wells", etc.




























And here' a YouTube video to give you a better idea of how it looks:

4 comments:

  1. Hi Ilene :) yes, please to a video tutorial. Don't you just love how the Midori feels in your hands :) I first got the black, then couldn't resist the blue Pan Am. And on a trip to Hongkong, I found the brown one for a good price. Was trying to resist but failed miserably heehee...would love to see videos of your set up, flip throughs and process! I have the Sakura Gansai travel palette and just recently got the sennelier 14 colours travel set, which is still on its way to me...So excited! Nowhere as good as you though so would Love to learn from you! So happy you're back, have missed you! Warm hugs :)

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    1. Kai, thank you so much for the warm welcome! Reading all your messages totally made my evening. The sennelier set sounds amazing! Enjoy that! I'm on a little rampage, making travel palettes LOL... I'll definitely do a video soon sharing them, and the one I made for the notebook. It does feel amazing, I'm putting off using it until the trip, so for now I just glance at it longingly every day :)

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  2. Hi again :) i meant kuretake Gansai and not Sakura although I also do have a Sakura koi palette but found it's a little big for travelling international with. Which midori insert is your favourite? :) xoxo

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    1. I actually got Sakura Koi to travel with, and returned it because it was just too heavy. I had gotten the Holbein tubes, so I've been using those still to fill up all my various plaettes. For the Midori, I only tried the 013 Lightweight insert so far, but I LOVE it. I'm going to stick with that one for journaling and drawing/painting. It's very similar to the Hobonichi paper. I also have the plain midori insert that came with it, and I will use that one on the trip in a couple weeks.

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