5 Easy Watercolor Textures Using Household Items

Want to add a bit of pizazz to your watercolors? These 5 easy watercolor textures can be made with stuff you have lying around the house!

Add A Little Something Extra

Painting with watercolors gives you a ton of opportunities to create something beautiful. There are tons of things you can do with just your paint and a brush, from simple washes to more complicated negative painting techniques. But did you know you can add unique textures with simple materials around your house? In this post, I’ll show you how easy it is to create some truly stunning watercolor textures without having to run to the store for anything extra.

Easy Watercolor Textures

If you’re a beginner, you might think that creating textures is beyond your level. But that’s simply not true! Not only are these easy watercolor textures fantastic for beginners, but they’re also an incredible way to better understand your watercolors and develop your skills! Once you have the basic watercolor supplies and a few items from around your house, you’re ready to jump into these techniques no matter what your skill level may be.

Water Blooms

This technique is fantastic because it only requires clean water! Here’s how you can create and apply this easy watercolor texture:

1. Put down a wash of color (you can see the four basic wash techniques here).
2. Wait for the paint to nearly dry. It shouldn’t be shiny with water anymore, but it should still be cool to the touch.
3. Get clean water on your brush and dot the water across the nearly dry paint.
4. Watch the water bloom in the paint before your eyes!

It may take a bit of trial and error to figure out the ideal level of paint dampness before you add the water blooms. If it’s too wet or too dry, you won’t get this effect. Play with this method to figure out the sweet spot.

Table Salt

Something as simple as table salt can have an astounding effect on your watercolors! The salt pulls water into its crystals, leaving a gorgeous starburst texture on the page. Here is how it’s done:

1. Lay down a wash of color.
2. Take some table salt and sprinkle it on the wet paint.
3. Allow the paint to fully dry, then sweep the salt crystals off the page.

I love this watercolor texture for painting backgrounds like water or foliage. It’s so easy it’s foolproof!

Natural Sponge

If you’ve ever received a spa gift basket for Christmas, then you might have a natural sponge lying around somewhere. You can use it to make some pretty amazing surface texture with your watercolors. Here is how you can do it:

1. Lay down a wash of color.
2. Take your damp sponge and use it to dab at the wash, removing bits of color. That’s it!

Alternatively, you can use the color on your sponge to paint onto the page for rough, abstract effects. If you want to take this easy watercolor texture further, you could even use the sponge to apply one color to an already damp wash, creating a soft blend of colors right on the page. The opportunities are really endless!

Plastic Wrap

A small scrap of plastic cling wrap can be a wonderful tool for making some fabulous watercolor textures with. Here’s how you do it:

1. Lay down a wash of color.
2. Let the paint dry until it’s not very shiny anymore (so there isn’t a ton of water standing on the page).
3. Crinkle up your cling wrap into a little ball and dab at the paint to create wrinkles and random lines.

This unique textural effect is so much fun to make, and it is so pretty when it’s all dry!

Rubbing Alcohol

Nearly everyone has rubbing alcohol in their cabinet, which makes it incredibly easy to use for watercolors. The alcohol repels the water on the page, creating interesting bubbles in the color. I use 50% isopropyl alcohol and it works beautifully. The steps for using rubbing alcohol are simple:

1. Lay down a wash of color.
2. Use a dropper or pipette to place drops of rubbing alcohol in the wet paint.

This is super simple, but it creates some drastic effects with different colors. I find that rubbing alcohol is perfect for creating cloudy shapes or bubbles. Once it’s dry, you can paint new layers right on top to add more depth and color in the foreground. One thing to note: you definitely need to make sure you’re using a sturdy watercolor paper if you use alcohol or it will bleed straight through to the other side. So don’t use this technique in your bullet journal!

Add Texture to Your Watercolor Paintings

As you can see, it doesn’t take a ton of fancy materials or advanced painting skills to make something special! I hope you try all five of these easy watercolor textures for yourself and find marvelous new ways to incorporate them into your next piece of art. If you share any of these creations on social media, make sure to tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can see!