DIY: Black and Gold Vintage-Inspired Treasure Box

At collage, we looove shimmery metallics and pearlescents, especially on top of black backgrounds. That’s why we carry such a wide variety of super-shiny paint pens, gel pens, brush pens, markers, pencils, gold leaf, inks, ink pads, watercolors, acrylic paints and craft products. But not all metallics are created equal, and not all will work on the same surfaces. For our box, we used opaque Japanese metallic watercolors and a very cool product called watercolor ground which, when dry, mimics the surface of a toothy paper and functions as a textured, absorbent surface for watercolors. It can go atop wood, leather, canvas, and plaster, as well as nonporous surfaces like glass, metal, and plastic.