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How to Write on Wet Paint and Rough Surfaces in Your Art Journal

Video from Carolyn sharing how she uses the fineliner to write on wet paint and rough surfaces!

I am absolutely addicted to the fineline applicator. Why? Because it lets me write on just about anything in any color I want.  The way the tip is designed, it doesn’t clog which is critical for me because I am not willing to clean.  Not one of these has clogged on me yet.  Beth Figiel left a comment on the blog asking me to explain more about these little bottles so I created this video.

Watch How to use a Fineline applicator to write on wet paint on YouTube.

When you buy it, it arrives empty and you fill it up with any runny color you want.  I fill mine with either acrylic inks  or high flow paint.  The rule I follow is if it will come out the tip then it is a good paint for the fineliner.

Video from Carolyn sharing how she uses the fineliner to write on wet paint and rough surfaces!

No matter how rough a surface, I can write on it with one of these.  A felt tip pen would get roughed up writing on this surface and a ball point pen will jump and skip on all this texture.

Video from Carolyn sharing how she uses the fineliner to write on wet paint and rough surfaces!

How hard you squeeze determines how much comes out the tip.  There are 2 sizes of the bottles, and I prefer the finest size because it can give me the thinnest line.

Video from Carolyn sharing how she uses the fineliner to write on wet paint and rough surfaces!

This is my go to way to write on wet paint because I don’t always want to wait for paint to dry and I don’t want to ruin a traditional pen.  I know, you’re shocked that I haven’t learned to be patient and wait for things to dry!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

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  • Janet November 10, 2015, 8:23 am

    I love my FineLiners!
    As a leftie, writing with them is more challenging. Since we lefties push our writing implements, rather than pull, the way righties do, success for me has been limited.
    Are there any other lefties out there who have found a way to deal with this?

  • Jean Marmo November 10, 2015, 3:54 pm

    I need to get some of these! I love seeing you use them!

  • Carla November 10, 2015, 4:18 pm

    Funny that FineLiners are your topic today. I just bought two at Hobby Lobby today!

  • Lisa November 10, 2015, 5:24 pm

    Thanks for the demo. I actually own a couple of these but have yet to use them. It would have been trial and error for the medium as my initial thought was ink and hi flow would be too thin and they’d leak out all over once you turn the bottle upside down. You just saved me a lot of hassle.

  • LynneP November 10, 2015, 6:32 pm

    I have been thinking about getting some of these as you use them so often. The video was helpful although I have another question. How do you clean them to change colors? Thanks for clarifying.

    • Carolyn Dube November 11, 2015, 12:20 pm

      I don’t clean them LynneP, I actually have quite a few of them so that I never have to change colors. I would imagine just rinsing with water would do it but that is a guess as I avoid cleaning like the plague…

  • Laurel November 11, 2015, 8:54 am

    Ooh thanks for this vid…i have some empty fine liners and now I know what I can do with them!! This will be great for filling spots in my journals.

  • Corrine November 11, 2015, 12:07 pm

    Oh yes, nice fine tip otherwise that ink just takes over. Do love it though. Marvelous scribbly writing. xox

  • Krista November 12, 2015, 7:40 pm

    Thank you for your tutorial. I have two empty fine liners that I am going to fill and use!

  • Nancy Sapp November 13, 2015, 7:54 pm

    Oh Carolyn!! You make everything look SO interesting on your videos. Now I need to buy a couple Fineline Applicators.

  • Jean Pilch November 25, 2015, 11:56 am

    Your video was exactly what I needed. My white pens don’t write half the time & this white paint fine liner will prove awesome. I got tickled when you said “here’s the finicky part, oh wait there isn’t a finicky part..” I notice you point out how simple PLAYING with paint can be. Thanks Carolyn!

  • Fineline Applicator March 11, 2019, 4:24 am

    Amazing tool, I really like to use them.