>>2455125
You put water colour paper in a bath

>>2455125
the sizing gel coagulated, you probably left it too long on the water, it's best to soak the paper for 3 mins up to maximum of 5.

I placed some watercolour paper in a bath

http://karensiosonwatercolors.blogspot.com/2011/07/troubleshooting-paper-problems-when.html

your paper gone shit.

Watercolour noob here, why would you put paper in a baht in the first place? Whats it supposed to do?

>>2455372
i'm no watercolourist, but I think you put the paper in a bath so that when you tape it while it's soaked, the paper will be nice and tight after it's dry, ready to receive paint. feel free to ber8 me if i'm wrong.

>>2455381

Yep. The water causes the paper to expand, so it stretches as it dries and contracts because it's bound to the expanded size. That way it'll stay flat while you paint, because it's maximum expansion will be no bigger than it was when you laid it flat while it was soaked.

Personally I don't bother though. Takes a shit load of time and things can go wrong.
I just use thick paper and tape it down dry. It buckles a bit when large areas get wet, but it still dries flat since it's taped, so it doesn't make a massive difference. But I could see it being a problem if you work very wet, giving you a constantly buckled surface and potentially forcing paint to dry in a buckled pattern.

Unless you paint really wet it's not really necessary to stretch the paper, many artists don't stretch it

If you're using good gummed tape that doesn't come off when wet, just tape the dry paper down and wet it with a spray bottle

Do you even wet bro?

>>2455125
Hrmm, never soaked the paper before taping it down and never seen paper spot like that either. Maybe you bought cheap paper and the sizing pooled weird or was poor quality.

The way I've always done it is to get a piece of Plexiglas and tape the paper to the board first before soaking it using clear packing tape. As I'm doing it I'm making sure to pull the tape towards the edge of the board and stretch the paper like you would a canvas. Before I soak it I make sure to take something hard like one of those bone folding tools and rub all the tape down to make sure its really suck against the board and paper. Then run it under the faucet to make sure it's wet all over, I don't submerge it fully in a tank of water, just run water over it making sure to get every part. It wrinkles up then dries flat as it was before I wet it. If I can't wait the 15 minutes for it to dry sometimes I use a hair dryer to speed things up.

The brown spotting could be from whatever type of paper you used. I always liked the large sheets of watercolor paper. It's more expensive but you have more flexibility how big/small you can paint. If you get the better brands like Windsor Newton you shouldn't have any quality issues or spotting, I never have. Make sure to hold the paper up over your head and look at it with the light running through it. Check for bends or creases in the paper, they'll show up in a painting. Also try not to touch the paper too much, the oil and dirt on your fingers can stick to the paper and the paint might not absorb correctly in that spot.

Maybe it soaked some of the dry board.

>>2455125

It's the tape. Always use acid free tape; I'm guessing yours wasn't. The best thing though is paper clams.

I think some chemical components from the tape leaked and ruined the paper.

So yeah, thanks people , we've some interesting responses.

>>2455372
Well , my Dad used to paint watercolour and he'd always stretch the paper on a board after soaking so I'm following his example.

It is Saunders Waterford Hot Pressed 300gsm watercolour paper. I am led to believe it is high quality so we shall see.

I am going to use inks, not watercolour, Sennelier Traditional shellac based ink.

I do use a lot of water, as I'm going for swirls of colour in pools of water. Letting it mix by chance. A bit like Instrumental TransCommunication. What will be revealed?

>>2455370
yup

>>2455381
yup

>>2455397
yeah, well I've tried it with out stretching and it does buckle, but... not too bad. I don't mind it buckled really. But, I suppose a perfect flat surface is preferable.

>>2455735
I am tipping water all over the paper then dropping ink in the water and letting it travel in the beads I have laid down.

>>2455816
what?

>>2455884
It's not cheap paper I don't think.

>>2456568
Yes, this is possible! The board could be very dirty... hmmmm.

>>2456602
>It's the tape.
yeah, it could be, it's plastic brown parcel tape and not a proper masking tape.

...and I may have soaked it too long as well, apparently this damages the paper sizing or the gum on the paper or summint.

let's try again!