Hello, Viviva Family!

Today, I am going to walk you through some very important tips that will help your colorsheets go a long way. I see a couple of you have mentioned in your reviews that the colors are getting used up faster than expected. If you’re new to these colorsheets and/or new to water coloring altogether, it can be a little challenging to understand how to use them optimally and correctly. This is very much applicable to the people who are used to half-pan sets or tubes too.

Viviva colorsheets are slightly different from the conventional watercolors of tubes and pan sets. Each Sheet contains 2 x highly saturated pigment “patches''  (6 x 4.5 cms.). These are almost pure dyes with very little binder, making them super vibrant. As the colors are high in concentration of pigment, you need very less water to activate them. The colors are comparable to a half pan set and are long-lasting provided used correctly and efficiently.

Watch the video for reference:

1. Use Minimal Water:

To use them, you need to gently touch the color with a slightly wet paintbrush and the colors will be activated immediately. Once activated, add it to the palette. You either use the inbuilt paper palette that comes with Viviva Colorsheets or any other palette would work too. Read about Viviva's Portable palette here

Avoid putting pressure on the color patches, stroking them rigorously, or leaving a big blot of water on it - Even if you by mistake do it, use a paper towel to suck out the extra water and let it dry. This will cause activating way more color than you need and you will end up using the colorsheets sooner than expected.

2. Pick colors from the same spot before moving elsewhere:

This is a very basic but effective practice. I usually pick colors from a corner of the patch and continue using the same spot until exhausted. Once exhausted completely, I move on to an adjacent spot and so on. This way I make sure only a portion of it is getting activated and the rest of my color patch remains intact and unused. 

3. Let it dry first:

The color patches generally dry quickly but if you end up wetting them a little too much, then wait for it to dry before you close the colorsheets.

4. Non-stick, water repellent paper:

To avoid mixing of colors when wet, we have added water repellent coating papers between every 2 sheets. This makes sure that the color patches of one sheet do not interfere with the other and there is no sticking when wet. Though, I would strongly recommend waiting for the colorsheets to dry before closing them. 

5. Stained hands? Handle them Correctly:

I see many of you have concerns regarding the colors staining your hands (especially magenta and vermillion), and to maintain the colorsheets clean. Well, there is no full-proof solution to this but at the same time, we can definitely suggest some handling tips that will make it easier for you all. 

When you are using your colorsheets, avoid touching the patches directly with your hands. This causes the micro granules of the color to transfer onto your hand. You cannot see them but, once the granules come in contact with water or your sweat, they get activated causing it to stain.

Hold your colorsheets at the edges or place your fingers on the water repellent sheets(as shown above). This will avoid your fingers getting directly in contact with the colors.

That's it! To summarize - 

• Use Minimal Water
• Pick colors from the same spot until exhausted
• Let it dry before you close the colorsheets
• The water repellent paper avoids interference of 2 colors
• Handle them correctly by avoiding touching the colors directly with your hands

If you follow these simple measures, your colorsheets will last way longer. If you have any more queries about the colorsheets write to us at support@vivivacolors.com We would love to hear from you and help you out with anything you need. We have many more such quick help guides for you 

Also Read:
How to set up the portable color palette and use your colorsheets