Gelli printing with crochet and lace stamps.

Yesterday I did a post on making stamps with foam sheets and crochet and lace.  This past weekend I did some gelli printing with these.

I previously had tried to stamp with these on canvas, but the details were too fine and the pattern disappeared.  In comparison, the gelli plate worked great and showed the details well.

Here is my stamp on the left and gelli plate with blue paint on the right.

I smushed my stamp into the paint, pressing firmly with my hands. Here is the plate after I removed the stamp.

I printed it over a previous red gelli print. 

I did try to get a second print on a different red gelli print but there was not a lot of paint remaining.

Here is my combination lace stamp and the gelli plate with orange paint.

After smushing the stamp into the plate.

The print. I printed this on a previous green gelli print. I think it would have looked better over a darker color.

Using the swirl crochet stamp, I printed using magenta on a plain sheet of deli paper. Here is the plate.

And the print.

This is a yellow print on a previous red gelli print. The turquoise is leftover paint on the plate from a previous print. I typically do not clean my gelli plate between colors, so I get some nice surprises like this sometimes.

And a couple more prints with the swirl stamp. This one on white deli paper.

Yellow print over a previous fluorescent pink flower print.

Detail.

Yellow print over a previous gelli print (that already had about four layers on it).

The prints I liked best were either darker paints printed on white paper, or light colored paints over darker paper (previous gelli prints).  The contrast allows the lace details to show better.

In my next post I am going to combine using a lace stamp and a handmade stencil for gelli printing.

Art Experiment: Make stamps from crochet lace

Art Experiment is a a series of posts using supplies which I own but have rarely (or never) used. Failure or success is not important, it is trying something different and seeing what can come from it.  There are three goals: try something new, use something in my supply stash, and have fun/experiment in the studio.

I have a lot of crochet doilies and lace in my stash.  I thought I would try making stamps from some of them.

For most of them, I used kids craft foam with adhesive on one side.

Here is the foam and some of my lace stash.

Here is the first one with four circles.

After peeling off the paper backing and attaching the lace, I cut around the pattern I wanted.  Since there were exposed areas of adhesive showing through the holes, I applied a coat of matte medium over the whole piece.

 A diamond shaped one:

This one I wanted pretty big, so I used a 12" x 16" piece of foam that did not have adhesive on it. I used matte medium to glue it down.

 Then I decided to make one with different laces on it. This picture is before gluing.

 After gluing.

 Tomorrow I will post some gelli prints using these.

Gelli print collaged storage box

I bought this storage box at a yard sale.  I thought it would make a nice travel box for some of my art supplies. It is very lightweight and a nice size.

I gessoed it first, before collaging it, because sometimes the gelli prints on deli paper are somewhat translucent and I didn't want the original colors peeking through. I did brush on some paint colors while I was gessoing.

Then, I collaged different gelli prints on it, both on the inside and the outside. All of the papers are gelli prints, mainly on deli paper, but there are a few on thicker paper as well. I used Matte Medium to adhere my papers, but it did create a few wrinkles on some of the larger pieces of paper. I wasn't too worried about a few wrinkles, as most likely anyone that sees it will say, "cool box" and not "look at that wrinkle!". I like to put the matte medium on the box and the backside of the paper, put the paper on the box, and then apply medium over the top of the paper.

Front Side. The paper on the right is made with one of my favorite stencils, Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Aboriginal.

Back Side. The cacti landscape is a stencil I made from a photo, you can see the blog post showing how I made it here.

The gelli printed face in the interior was from a stencil that I made from a picture of myself.  Here is the blog post showing the stencil (and the coneflower stencil that is on the front of the box). To make the stencils, I put a piece of Mylar over the enlarged photo, traced the outlines with a pencil, and then cut it out with scissors and an Xacto knife.

I did apply a coat of Dorland's wax medium on the box, once the matte medium was dry.  Mainly this was so the box wouldn't seal itself shut, or pull up paint or paper when it is opened and closed. It was the first time I'd used the Dorland's wax, which is oil/solvent based. I just applied it with a lint free rag, and after a few days I buffed it with a clean rag.  The box seemed kind of waxy and greasy when I first applied it but it is just fine now, and the lid doesn't stick so it did the job.

I love it and it fits a bunch of stuff (I just threw in a few things)!

Gelli print collaged brush storage

Today I have a guest post on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog, where I create variegated arrow strips using her Chevron stencil.  Thanks Julie, for letting me share my technique on your blog!  You can see my guest post here.

I thought I would provide some additional photos of the container that I collaged with the variegated arrow papers (as well as some other gelli prints that I have).

I bought this container at the thift store for a couple bucks. It is supposed to be for holding silverware, but I thought it would make a great brush and pen holder.

I only collaged the outside, leaving the interior lime green.  I put a coat of gesso on the outside, as my gelli prints on deli paper are somewhat translucent.

Here are a bunch of different gelli prints I used. I cut them into strips with my paper cutter, then cut then into rectangles and squares with scissors.

Here is my finished container!

On my work table

Between renovating a bathroom and increasing my hours at work, I haven't blogged in quite a while. I have not finished any art in the last two weeks, but I have quite a few in process so I thought I'd show what I am working on. I will do bigger posts on each when I am done.

This is an fabric piece made from polyester fabrics, lutradur, and gelli printed interfacing.  I plan to do quite a bit of free motion stitching (with cotton thread) and then will zap it with a heat gun. I think it's looking pretty good. I may add some paint after zapping it as I think it needs more contrast.

I am working on collaging gelli prints on this storage box. I just  need to find my Dorland's wax so the edges don't get stuck together when it is closed, otherwise this one is done.

Then I decided to pull out my felting supplies.  I thought they were all in one large plastic storage box. But once I pulled out all the supplies, this is the pile.  And there are still a few things I haven't found (must be stored in the garage somewhere), like my favorite roller and my sprinkle bottle for soapy water.

Here are my felting experiments.  I am working on making some felted cuffs/wrist warmers, but also did some experimenting with nuno felting and resists.  The ones with the balls tied in them are not fulled enough to remove the balls. I plan to cut them open so you can see the interior.

These are the projects I have in progress. I expect things will be busy until Thanksgiving. By then, I hope to have the clawfoot tub moved back in the bathroom, instead of being in the middle of the living room (where it was moved to allow the bathroom floor to be tiled). And hopefully, we will have the new vanity installed by then as well.  December will be another wave of craziness as we have the basement remodeled.  I may have a studio of my own by spring (at this rate).

Autumn Fog

The fog rolled in this morning, and I thought it would be great to take a walk, shoot some atmospheric pictures, and enjoy autumn.

The leaves are changing, but it was surprising how many flowers were still in bloom in late October.

Halloween is right around the corner!

Mixed media canvas with artificial flowers

The other day I was cruising YouTube and saw this awesome video by Donna Downey using fake flowers and paint, etc. Here is the link to her You Tube video.

I thought this was a fun project and easily done in 10 minute sections of time over a few days, since there is drying time involved.

I am painting over this painting/collage on canvas, as I never liked it much. You can see I started putting some modeling paste for texture over it.

I cut four artificial flowers off their stems. Sometimes they fall apart into individual pieces/layers when I do this, so it's good to put a dab of glue between the layers to hold it together. It looks like Donna used flowers meant for scrapbooking so she didn't seem to have this issue. I used  Beacon's 3n1 glue to glue the flowers down. I added some texture paste, and let it dry.

 A day later, I covered it all with gesso.

And let it dry.

Donna smeared on acrylic paints at this stage, but I just sprayed mine with glimmer mist type sprays. And let it dry.

I came back in with some more gesso and a touch more spray. 

While the gesso was wet, I sprinkled some UTEE (clear embossing powder) over top, and heated it with a heat gun.

I thought this was awesome and easy!  I wish I got a bit more gunky and heavy with gels to add more texture and make the flowers look more artsy, and I may skip the last layer of gesso and embossing powder if I try this again.