Happy Friday, all! After my last video, I was curious about how well contact paper would perform as a mask on different types of watercolor paper. Also, I wanted to test Gina K Masking Magic paper with watercoloring. So here we are! The ultimate watercolor masking test! I also included Pebeo Drawing Gum and Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid in the test.
(Wondering what I used in this video? Everything is linked to multiple sources in the thumbnails at the end of this post, or in the text below. Compensated affiliate links used when possible).

I tested 14 different watercolor papers:
- Arches Cold Press
- Arches Hot Press
- Canson Montval
- Canson XL
- Canson Foundational 90 lb.
- Strathmore 500 Cold
- Strathmore 500 Hot
- Fabriano Artistico Extra White Cold
- Fabriano Artistico Extra White Hot
- Saunders Waterford Cold
- Saunders Waterford Hot
- Legion Stonehenge Black
- Strathmore Bristol Smooth
- Canson XL Bristol Smooth
I used three different watercolor mediums:
- American Crafts Paper Fashion Watercolor Set
- Arteza Watercolor Markers (for use on the Bristol Smooth papers)
- FineTec Pearlescent Watercolors (for us on the black paper)
And I used two different type of dies for cutting out the papers:
- Intricate word die: Simon Says Stamp Words of Hope
- Solid Shape: Simon Says Stamp Window to My Heart
Overall, the results were mixed depending on the type of paper and which masking paper was used. Here are the results (watch the video for extreme closeups)…




Overall, I think this was a useful test! For the most part, all of the masking options worked well enough on all the watercolor papers (which the exception of the contact paper on Stonehenge black–it tore the paper upon removal).
Thanks for stopping by today! :)
Supplies
Compensated affiliate links used when possible. Items marked with an asterisk (*) were provided by a store or the manufacturer. All other items were personally purchased. Items below are shown in the order they appear in the video.
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