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Update Your Old Backpack With This SUPER Pretty Watercolor Technique

Kelly Bryden

Kelly Bryden, an east coast native, is stoked to be a part of the Brit + Co team. Design, DIY, and fashion are her passions. If she isn't crafting you can catch her on the dance floor or wrapped up in aerial silks.

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Aug 14, 2015

Update Your Old Backpack With This SUPER Pretty Watercolor Technique

As much as we hate to admit it, summer is coming to a close and school is right around the corner. Here at Brit HQ, we feel like we had a great summer, so we are ready for cooler fall weather, stockings and booties. Oh wait — that is San Francisco weather always. Well, for all of you who are heading back to school, we have a great way to update your old backpack — with gorgeous watercolors! We think anything watercolored is an ultimate win, so this backpack takes the cake.

Materials:

– canvas backpack (we bought ours here)

– fabric paint

– iron-on gold foil

– foil adhesive

Tools:

– iron

– sponge brushes

– parchment paper

– mason jar

Instructions:

1. Use your largest foam brush to dampen all the areas that you want to watercolor.

2. Dip your smaller paint brush into water and then your first color of paint. Dab it onto the canvas and watch the paint spread.

3. Clean your paintbrush and continue dabbing other colors onto your backpack. If you want to make the colors merge more, dab a watered foam brush on top of the area where the colors meet. This will make them blend together.

4. Once dry, apply foil adhesive to the bag and spread using a paint brush. Lay the foil on top of the adhesive, cover in parchment paper and iron.

5. Let the gold foil cool and then peel it off. Repeat that process until you have gold foiled to your heart’s content.

Lather on that water. Your backpack needs to be pretty wet so that the colors can spread and create beautiful watercolored patterns.

Wet your paintbrush, and dip it into your favorite color. Dab it onto the wet canvas and watch the colors spread.

Use a clean wet paintbrush to help blend the colors together. Dab the water onto the colors rather than moving the brush over them to blend them together.

Keep adding colors until your backpack is a watercolored masterpiece.

Of course we made a backpack with gold foil :) Apply the gold foil adhesive, lay the foil on top, then cover with parchment paper and iron. Once the foil has cooled, peel it back to reveal the shiny addition.