Maybe the most stupid mistake you can make with a gelli plate

…is not to remove the cover from your brand new big size gelli plate before using it.
And it just happened to me. Having my head in the clouds, thinking of many too many other things having on my “plate” right now. After 4 prints I was wondering what was wrong with my acrylic colors today – too cold, too old, dried out… and then I saw it!!!

But let’s just call it artistic freedom and enjoy those much too dry, but interesting looking prints.

Another good thing is, it will never happen again, because the cover sheet now was much too beautiful with my self scanned and cut multi layered stencils, so that I did not clean it. It goes into the package after using just like this.

Enjoy your weekend and happy crafting,

Angelika

 

Falling Leaves

You just cannot ignore it anymore even if we had a wonderful sunny and warm weekend.
But it is fall. And I don’t like fall. I am a spring girl, I also love snow and I love warmth, but I don’t like the plants in my garden and everywhere around me dying, not at all…

However, moaning doesn’t help, so I kept myself busy and created a set of fall leaves from paper to make some warm rich overwhelming beautiful fall tags using my new leaves dies from Taylored Expressions (ordered from USA and every Cent for petrol to get them from far away out of the customs office was worth it! ). The tree I’ve cut with my Silhouette Cameo from a cutting file I made myself a while ago. And for the photo background I found a gelli print in matching fall colors.

I hope you love fall more and enjoy the rich season!

 

 

making endless damask paper rollers for gelli printing

I recently ordered 2 sets of damask embossing folders from Sizzix with having wall paper like prints in mind. The little size does not cover a letter size sheet though, so I tried to make endless rollers.
I found a matching roll within my fabric stock and cut it in pieces, also the embossed papers and fixed them around the rolls.You need to have very good double sided tape for this to get a clear endless pattern.

I used the rollers with the gelli plate and it was such a sticky, messy and intricate action, that I totally forgot to make pics. I was not happy with the results anyway. But with a couple of days rest in between, then scanning some of the best sheets, recoloring them on the computer and printing the new colors I found them usable.

I cut tags, ran them through the Big Shot again embossing them with the same patterns. I brushed distressed ink pads over it softly to get more contrasts and then covered them with embellishments. At the end I love them and I will bore you even more with tags 🙂

 

 

Gelli Print with Acrylic Medium

Last week I made a whole bunch of own stencils from overhead film. I find them perfect for use with the gelli arts plate. The prints from the stencils are giving a different structure than from the gel plate. This way you get beautiful effects and you can make more prints from one session.

I used some embossed card stock for texturing and got a beautiful scrap for further use.
One of my most favorite “paint” for gel printing is acrylic medium. I use glossy and matte and I love both of them. It is perfect to make a pastel last print from left over paint on the plate. You can liquidify with just putting 3-4 drops of medium onto the plate, then using the brayer to spread it over the plate.

This is one big advantage of the natural gelatine plate. It is wet, the Gelli Arts plate is dry. But with acrylic medium even the last traces are going off and make wonderful last prints.

Have fun trying this!

Gelli Print – Sunday!

So today I used my new stencils with the new made gelatin plate.
I think I am going to order the Gelli Arts plate next week. I saw it is available again.
My gelatin plate is full of color pigments now after 2 times usage. For my next session I definitely need a new one.

I got another stack of prints. There are not many I am really happy with today though. While printing I wished I had a redo button like on the computer, because I ruined a beautiful print with adding another layer and it has just not been a good choice, what a pity. I wished I had more control and I could repeat a print, but no way.

Here you can see some work in process pics and some results.
More pics I’ll show tomorrow….

Gel Printing – my first attempts with a self made plate

I used a simple small brayer from the do-it-yourself store here. I had just 3 colors of acrylic paint: red, blue and yellow, in addition black and white. And I had a whole Sunday afternoon for myself…

These are some of my first prints.
I am still having a lot more sheets that I do not like so much. I will keep them for further use, for stamping, die cutting or another layer of gel printing.

I love the random results. For me as I usually want to have full control over all my designs this is a wonderful exercise to let loose.

In the top pics I used some simple paper doilies I once made with my Big Shot and folded paper.
With gel printing you always get a first color intense print and a second print, which is more pale. I find the second prints more beautiful. For cleaning the brayer you even get a good 3rd print sometimes. This way I got little series from all types I tried. Great to find out what you prefer!

But I will not use an embossing folder anymore! The paint dried too quick and I didn’t get it clean anymore.
It is better to mess around with my own stencils cut from paper or film.

And I “stole” my bfs advent calendar numbers….lol…he will get new ones (or the painted ones?) on end of the year. I LOVE the number prints!