Nifty DIY Watercolor Postcard Block!

I just love that Lindsay Weirich!  She is so creative.  She is so generous with her ideas.  She really helps me is so many of my crafty pursuits.

Today I will show you the nifty watercolor paper (postcard size) block she made a while ago.  Usually I take a piece of plexiglass and attach my postcard sized (actually one-quarter of a 9 by 12 sheet of 140-pound watercolor paper) watercolor paper with tacky tape/the blue painters' tape.  It works very well. It also gives you a nice white border around the painting...at least it does if you put the tape down very firmly so no paint can seep underneath. (Run your fingernail around the inside edge closest to where you will paint.  That should do the trick.  Just remember not to leave the tape on for very long after the painting dries....but DO leave it on until the painting dries.  If you leave it, or are not careful pulling up the tape, it can tear your paper.  Especially cheaper ones.  Ask me how I know...)

After painting a ghastly pond scene today I decided I had time to make the block of watercolor postcards so off I went to the workroom.  (This might be a good time to say that as this year is my year to get organized ---and it is more than half done.  The year, sadly NOT the organizing, I am sorry to say.  Anyway, I just now decided that I will get the workroom in order--where have you heard that one before?--and move ALL my crafty work to the workroom and leave the kitchen and dining room table area to be company ready.  Yep, that is the plan.  Can she do it?  Oh, I think she can.  Can she stick with it?  That is debatable....)

Block already glued.  You can see the bumpy hot glue.  That is no problem, just unsightly.

In the workroom I pulled out my old one-heat-level glue gun which was ready to go with a big fat long new glue stick protruding from the end.  I turned it on to let it heat up.  Now came the trick of finding where I put all the binder clips.  The first three places I looked did not have them BUT  in the third place I looked for the binder clips I DID find the hard rubber roller...what the heck is that thing called?--anyway the thing you use to roll paint over a gelatin sheet to then make prints for other projects.  Anyway, I have looked for that roller for weeks.  Now here it is. 

Having found that roller, I got out the homemade gelli sheet I made three months ago so I could make some prints. There, beside the gelli sheet, was a nice sturdy binder clip attached to the rolling rack where I have a lot of stored stuff!  Nice.  Now I am ready to roll with the postcard block AND the gelli prints!  Bonus!!  Wouldn't it be great to be organized so I could IMMEDIATELY find my stuff??  Yes, it would.

To make your block is a very simple thing:  hold your sheets of paper together with the binder clip--preferably at the top edge, making sure they are nicely aligned.  Run the hot glue all around the edges getting very good coverage.  If you have a third or fourth hand, one of them can spread the glue evenly along the edges.  If that is not your good fortune,  just do the best you can.  Do NOT put glue under the spot where the binder clip holds the paper together.  That is where you will insert your knife, or whatever, to remove a finished painting from the block. 

See where the binder clip held the paper together. There is no glue there.  This is where you will separate the sheets after finishing a painting.  It works great!

Simple. Quick. Easy. Done!