A Question for Those Who Use Watercolors. . .

1. Do you use the already made (?) ones in the tubes? Or the dry, little squares like we had when we were kids?
I prefer the dry. I have two sets and love them both. I have:
Angora Watercolors and Sakura Koi Watercolors (great for travel)

2. Is there a difference in quality of the different brands? If so, which one(s) do you think are best?
Yes, there is. I know there are sets that are much better than mine, but the "watercolor" expert (IMO) recommends these. You can see her site here: Alisa Burke

3. About how much should I expect to pay for a good set?
The most I paid was just over $20.

4. Do you use watercolor paper? Or do you just paint on regular cardstock?
Not usually. I use it in my art journal, on my scrapbook pages, and on my cards. That means I use it on any paper--patterned and cardstock.

5. Do you have any tips for cutting down the amount if warping to the paper?
Letting it dry or drying with a heat tool and then slightly bending back to shape. My layouts are always a bit warped because I do a lot of mixed media on them but once they are in the pages, it's fine. They are always lumpy and bumpy with embellies too so it doesn't bother me.

Hope that helps!

I am so glad you asked this question. I've been wanting to try watercolors as well.

I prefer the tubes to the pans.  With a pan if I forget to rinse by brush well I may end up damaging a light colored pan.  And if I use up all of one color I'm able to easily replace that one color.

(This is more from an art/painting point of view since I haven't used it in papercrafting at all)

1. Do you use the already made (?) ones in the tubes? Or the dry, little squares like we had when we were kids?
I have a crappy set from Michael's (their Artist's Loft brand), tubes, and Derwent Inktense pencils that I use both as a pencil and as paint by brushing a water brush over the lead. I also have Dylusions sprays which I just dip a brush into, as well as India Ink which, while not technically watercolour, it can be diluted with water and gives the same kind of look. Simple answer: different types for different jobs.

2. Is there a difference in quality of the different brands? If so, which one(s) do you think are best?
There's ALWAYS a difference in quality from different brands. In the art supply world, you get what you pay for. Any artist can make amazing things with any medium, it just comes down to how much work they want to put into it. Fight to make a bad medium look good, or start off with a great medium and sail through it! I pay for quality and make it easy on myself. The Derwent Inktense 72 pencil set is one of those things. As are the India inks.

3. About how much should I expect to pay for a good set?
Depends on what kind you're getting, really. There's review sites out there for literally any kind of medium, and some that compare them which is nice. Tube paints also can be used to let dry in a pan and be used like the "cube" paints, so there's that. Like I said before, the general rule is you pay for quality. The more you're paying, expect that you're getting better quality.

4. Do you use watercolor paper? Or do you just paint on regular cardstock?
I use watercolour paper. I've tried using the Dylusions journals and they just cannot handle the water. If I'm making a watercolour card, to bring this back to papercrafts, I'd be using a small piece of watercolour paper. You could get away with cardstock if you're not doing much, not trying to blend a lot, or just making drips. If you're trying to actually create a painting what you'll get is more of a mess of paper fibres depending on the quality of your cardstock.

5. Do you have any tips for cutting down the amount if warping to the paper?
Staples. Stretch your paper, staple it to a board, then paint. That paper isn't going anywhere and it's certainly not going to warp. It'll dry flat, then just pop out the staples. Many watercolour artists that use sheets of paper instead of books do this or have some other type of "anchor" for the paper.

ETA: just for eye candy: www.diondior.com/p/tutorials.html

Probably because the ink is running because they never intended that paper to get wet?

I see people use cardstock and patterned paper rather than watercolor paper. Is it just old paper that won't work?