Whether you’re a watercolourist, illustrator or just a plain ol’ doodler that likes to experiment in your work, Brusho Crystal Colours are your new best friends.

Brusho Crystal Colours from Colourcraft are incredibly versatile, highly pigmented watercolour crystals that come recommended for an almost endless list of applications and techniques including card making, scrapbooking, stencilling, design work or watercolour painting.

So, if you’ll permit, we’d like to introduce you to these unique materials, starting with some highlights before moving onto various techniques to help get you started.

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Acid & oil-free, Brusho Crystal Colours are a non-toxic, Vegan friendly range of incredibly versatile watercolour crystals.

Fully intermixable for a potentially limitless palette in your work, their broad spectrum of beautiful colours include high concentrations of artist-quality pigments for bold applications with an excellent degree of lightfastness (with all colours rated between 4-6).

Their specially formulated binders are exclusively manufactured by Colourcraft to enhance both their performance & visibility, ensuring bold, colourful applications every time.

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A perfect companion to Brusho Crystal Colours, Wax Resist Sticks are versatile, easy-to-use tools ideal for producing highlights, reflections and accents in your work.

Featuring an intuitive crayon-like design, simply draw directly onto your surface before applying Brusho Crystal Colour (or any other water-based medium for that fact) & their transparent wax body will repel any pigment, thus preserving the underlying layers of your work.

Available in a convenient pack of 5, each lightweight stick measures just 74mm in length, perfect for any pencil case or art collection.

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Techniques

As mentioned, Brusho Crystal Colours are both easy-to-use & versatile, making them perfect for a myriad of exciting techniques.  Below we’ll discuss several prominent examples, but there are even more out there for the curious!

And don’t forget, their Wax Resist Sticks can be used with any of the below techniques too, so have fun & experiment!

Great for interesting backgrounds, this straightforward technique offers a unique, spontaneous & naturally forming colour blends.

Start by applying your Brusho to a sheet of dry paper with a dry brush (or simply sprinkling, if you choose) however you’d like.  Once satisfied, simply spray with a light mist of water atop the pigments & watch the magic happen!

Although nigh on uncontrollable at times, you will find that single pigment colours provide a strong block colour, whilst composites offer attractive, irregular effects.  Using too much water can cause puddles to form that affect your work, so maintaining a distance is paramount if you’re looking for fluid, organic flows.

For more intense watercolour or ink effects, try wetting your brush and mixing the Brusho directly on the surface of the paper.  Although this method offers greater control, it does lose some of the inherent spontaneity.

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This technique involves wetting the paper before applying your Brusho, which can be achieved in one of two distinct ways, each offering a unique finish.

Soaking your paper (or making it generally wet), allows the colours to spread, mix and migrate more naturally for a softer, less defined finish.

If you’d prefer more control, using a wet brush to paint some shapes or patterns onto your paper before softly sprinkling your Brusho offers enhanced control, deeper colours and definition.

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Due to their similarity with watercolour paints, many traditional watercolour techniques can be applied to Brusho rather easily.

In fact, converting Brusho to a watercolour paint is incredibly straightforward.  Simply grab yourself a palette, decant a small amount of your chosen colour into a mixing well, apply water & mix with a small brush to produce a liquid paint.

This technique has the added benefit of allowing you to directly affect the concentration of the pigments, with your colours starting vivid & rich, before becoming more diluted as more water is added gradually.

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Must-Haves, Accessories & More

To truly get the most from this amazing range, we’ve included several extra materials below to help you get the best experience possible!

Brusho Basics

From talented artist Isobel Hall, Brusho Basics is a must have resource for inspiring, innovative ideas.

Demonstrating how best to use your Brusho Crystal Colour, this book includes step-by-step instructions & beautiful illustrations to guide you through a variety of techniques and projects.

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Painting with Brusho

A definitive go-to guide that encourages artists of all abilities to explore the improvisational properties of Brusho & show how incorporating it into their painting repertoire can fundamentally alter how they work in colour.

Across 10 step-by-step projects, 144 pages & 300 illustrations Joanne Boon Thomas demonstrates how the simple step of adding a spritz of water to your Brusho can result in vibrant, expressive paintings with breath-taking, spontaneous fusions of colour in a loose, bold style.

Included are a full range of techniques such as what can be achieved using only one colour, how to effectively blend primary colours & the hidden qualities of black Brusho.  Short demonstrations throughout display the impact of using a bleach solution, how to utilise wax resist for effect, using a flat wash & how "line and wash" can work as a loose framework for your paintings.

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Ultra-Fine Mist Sprayers

Available in a convenient set of 4, these clear, compact bottles are reusable and feature a strong spray nozzle that delivers a fine, widespread mist of water (or any liquid you’d like to put in them).

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Watercolour Paper, Pads & Books

Designed for use with water-based materials, heavyweight watercolour paper is best when working with Brusho, whether that be in a pad, book or loose sheets.

If you’re looking for convenience, our Watercolour Postcard Pad offers 12 sheets of 300gsm NOT paper in a convenient, pocket-sized format with a gummed edge for easy removal of your work.

Value for money can be found with the robust Goldline Studio Pad from Clairefontaine, which includes 100 sheets of 200gsm NOT paper suitable for a variety of applications.

For experimenting or working on largescale projects, Saunders Waterford & Bockingford offer a number of high-quality watercolour sheets available across several weights & finishes including NOT, HP & Rough.

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