Homemade Stickers! - from guest blogger Artsy Bat Brook

Homemade Stickers! - from guest blogger Artsy Bat Brook

Have you ever looked at a doodle or a small painting and wished it could be anywhere other than on paper? Or have you admired the glitter of a watercolor and wanted it on something other than watercolor paper? How about decorating a pumpkin with it? A great way to bring your art to other things is by making stickers. This is a homemade sticker which will still show the glitter and shine of some watercolors that would be lost if you were to scan your picture.

Happy October and welcome to my fifth blogpost! I go by Artsy Bat Brooke on all my art social medias and you can find me on Instagram at @artsy.bat.brooke and on YouTube at ArtsyBatBrooke. October is my favorite month with all the orange, pumpkins, bats, and other Halloween things. I primarily use watercolors in my artwork though I love coming up with different ways to do things as well as experimenting with new materials. Currently, I am developing my art style for children’s book illustrations.

For this project, you will need some supplies that might be in your house, but probably not by your art things. You will need parchment paper and clear packing tape. I used only The Smiling Hippo watercolors to make some stickers for my planner. There are some variations of stickers that you can make based on the paper that you use.

First step is to paint something that you want to turn into a sticker. If you are wanting to have a more flexible sticker which will bend with paper, you can use something thin like construction paper. Though construction paper isn’t ideal for many painting things, it held up decently with the watercolors since I was using a minimal amount of water. Even with the construction paper being so thin, the tape makes the sticker stiffer. If you are going to be using the stickers on an inflexible surface, I suggest mixed media paper or watercolor paper. Be mindful when using watercolor paper since the thickness can cause a bubble around the sticker if you are using a thick piece. Once you have your pictures finished and are completely dry, you can cut them out into different shapes.

The next step is to get some parchment paper out then to put some packing tape, sticky side down on the parchment paper. This is the back of the sticker. Once the tape is down, you can start arranging your pictures on the tape. Make sure there is enough space in between the pictures. The importance of this space is for when you cut them out, but also so there is room for the tape to stick to the tape, sealing the picture inside. Doing it this way also makes the stickers waterproof in case they get splashed. You can also do one at a time so you don’t have to worry about spacing; also I suggest doing individual ones ifthere is a large amount of glitter on the picture or has a texture. Below is how spaced out they can be. (I did cut the paper to match where the tape was and already trimmed the edge where the smiley face was)

 

Once you have them spaced, put another piece of tape on top of the picture and the sticker. Do this slowly so that you can prevent any bubbles or folds in the tape. It is difficult to separate the tape from itself and is hard to redo without damaging your picture. Once you have done this, press down where the picture is to make sure the tape is adhering as well as the area around the paper. There might be some space right by the edge of the paper, especially when you use watercolor paper. Either use your nail, or the back of a paint brush to push the tape down. After it is smoothed out, you can cut out the new sticker with the parchment paper in your preferred shape.

Now it is time to stick it somewhere! There are so many options of where to put these stickers and the designs you can make. One cool option is even using glow in the dark paint then putting the sticker is a spot that would be charged during the day, then you can find it when the lights are off.

I hope you have fun with this simple project!

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