Bag it!

Janelle is our hostess this week for the Mix-Ability challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, and boy is it a fun one. Lots of people are wanting to explore the glamour of a Gelli Plate, but can't commit to the expense of buying one. I showed you how to make a permanent, DIY plate in THIS POST, but I know some of you are intimidated, don't have the time, or are like me - just too busy/lazy. HA! So Janelle's challenge is to do the faux-gelli technique using a simple plastic baggie as demonstrated in:

Alisa Burke's Video -- Faux-Gelli Bag Technique

Here's my take on using this technique and a few things I discovered. First, I put my plastic baggie on my glass cradle board. This is a piece of repurposed glass that I taped and use as a lap-desk while I'm stuck in bed - nothing you need to do this technique (I just didn't want you confused by my bedspread underneath).

Tip: You can click any picture and scroll through them in order for a more detailed view.

On my baggie, I put various sized paper circles and strips. I did this to preserve some 'white' space - areas where there won't be any paint. This is important if you want to see the paper you're printing over through the paint. I dropped blobs of paint, then brayered it over the baggie.

**First Grrrrr moment: these bits of paper do NOT stay put on the baggie like they will on an actual plate. The will stick to your brayer like dust on a black kitteh! Be aware of that, and skip this paper masking, or be prepared to fuss with them A LOT.**

This is my plastic baggie after a couple of prints have been lifted. You can still see some areas devoid of paint where my bedspread shows through. ** Second Grrrr moment: paint dries REALLY FAST using this technique and does not respond like it will on a plate. ** Minor technical glitch: I didn't get photos of some of the in-between printings, but if you watch Alisa's video, then my step-by-step photos, I think you'll get the picture.

Here are some of my prints - the one in the upper left was a straight pull - meaning I didn't reapply paint and press it onto the paper over and over. I applied all the paint I wanted (some is glitter paint) to the baggie, then pressed it to the paper only once. The others I pressed on 2 or 3 times. You can see the faint repeat of the big yellow flower on the bottom center cardstock. All of these were printed on Gina K Designs pure luxury cardstock. Paints were cheap craft stuff and some more expensive Golden Fluid Acrylics. The craft stuff actually performed better (and I have heard this from many other people using regular gelli plates).

This one is a little different. I printed on a used manila file folder, reapplied paint, and printed over my first one, etc. Next, I cut all of these pieces down to 8 1/8 inches square and turned them into envelopes as the Envelope Board instructs. This is where the magic begins.

These prints are a little flat, a little chaotic, and frankly, directionless. How do you figure out the next step? Decide on a focal point. For me, I wanted these envelopes to contain some random goodies - leftovers from past projects, bits of product laying around my studio, etc. to gift to another crafter via 'happy mail'. I have a really cool sentiment from Stampin Up! Trust God sentiment set. It says "God has given us two hands -- one to receive with and the other to give with. ~Billy Graham. Perfect!

I needed HEARTS to convey the love from one artist to another.  So I cut hearts out of those pesky pieces of circles that grabbed onto my brayer up in step 2. Ha! That'll teach you to mess with me!

I hope you can flip that image over in your mind, because I turned it when I decided the orientation for the envelope - the big pink flower that was lower left is now upper right. I put some gesso in a heart shape in the left corner, added some stamped washi tape (SU!'s Tape It set), rubbed more gesso through stencils (the white ghosted areas), shaded around the gesso heart to make it pop with some dimension, and over-stenciled with gold modeling creme. I used a variety of product - if you have a specific question, ask in the comments or look in the ingredients at the bottom of this post.

Isn't that FUN? Magical? It makes me giddy! I want to send envelopes like this to pay bills in - just because the job of opening bills and logging payments must get incredibly boring and those people deserve art, too! Here's some more:

This one was similar, but it has some extra glitter paint, different stencils, some pen work. Just go with the flow. I also used SU!'s Gorgeous Grunge set on this one. Love that! And finally....

BOOM! Heehee!! This one makes me so HAPPY! I wanna dance! That gorgeous color really pops on the black cardstock. This is one virtue of paint over ink on dark paper. It's opaque. It's rich. It's playful!

Did I say that was the last one? Well, it was. Sort of. I have a by-product fun piece for you too. I hate to throw things away. I blame my parents, who were children of the great depression and dust bowl era. We were taught to use every little bit of everything we had (#noIamNOTaHoarder). I saw all the beautiful bits of paint and glitter stuck to my now well-worn piece of plastic baggie, and me-thunk an idea. Packaging tape. I put packaging tape over the paint on my baggie. It's now sandwiched so the glitter can't rub off, and the paint won't get scraped off. And it's sturdy enough to go through my paper cutter. And my die machine... I now have...

SUPER WASHI TAPE!

^^CLICK ME ^^
for a better view.

YES I LOVE IT!! Can you see the little bits of white fabric showing through? Yes, those spots are clear, so you can glue it down and still see some of the fabulousness beneath it. Fun fun fun!

I'm running around throwing confetti, so I'd better step away from the computer. I hope you give this technique a try, and please share with us (even if it flops) over on Splitcoast. We celebrate trying things over there. Better to try and fail than to have a really clean, neat studio. Go make some magic and mail it to a random person!

Ta for now,
~ky

Ingredients:
Paper - Gina K Designs pure luxury cardstock - ivory, warm cocoa, black
Paints - Golden Fluid Acrylics, Bella Acrylic (craft, from Home Depot) assorted colors including glitter
Artist's Choice gesso
General's charcoal pencil, 8B
Copic multiliner pens
SU! Stamp sets: Tape It, Trust God, Gorgeous Grunge
Dylusions stencils: Diamond of a Border; Letter Jumble; Chequered Dots; 
Crafter's Workshop stencils: Mini Punchinella; Microbial
Viva Colour for Creative Imaginations gold Modeling Cream
Inks: Archival Ink (Ranger) coffee, jet black; Gina K Designs turquoise sea, sweet mango, cherry red, and fresh asparagus; Versafine onyx black, and Memories white dye ink pad by Stewart Superior
Plastic kitchen baggie, 3M packaging tape

Homemade Gelli

Gelli plates are all the rage right now, but they are a little too expensive for my pocketbook. Ole Santa didn't leave me enough after I paid for the gifts . So this is the method I chose.

I picked up an inexpensive ($5) covered 9x13 cake pan. The cover will help me store it without the risk of critters, dust, or bunneh hair falling into it.

I bought 2 4-pack boxes of Knox gelatin - $2 per pack. I bought 3 6-ounce bottles of plain glycerin. These are $3 apiece. My total investment was $16. For comparison, an authentic Gelli plate 12 x 14 inches is $70 retail.

The order of ingredients is important. Start by measuring out 2 cups of glycerin in a bowl. I used a plastic bowl, but glass would work too. Sprinkle 8 packets of gelatin over the glycerin and gently fold in so it has a chance to soften. Set aside.

Start some water to boil water. Pour 2 cups of boiling water gently into the glycerin/gelatin mix. Gently stir it until the gelatin is well distributed. How will you know? You won't have any loose water pooling on top of the mix. Next, carefully pour into your pan. You can use any shaped pan, and this amount with this pan yielded a half-inch thick piece of gelli.

Take a moment to remove the little bubbles. I just lightly touched the bubbles, and they either burst, or they attached themselves to my finger. This will be the BOTTOM of your gelatin plate, so I don't think it's critically important. Set it on a level shelf in your refrigerator, or if the weather's cold, set it outside. Make sure it's level and do NOT put the lid on it. You don't want to trap any condensation as it cools.

Gently loosen the gel from the edges of the pan, place a piece of sturdy material (glass, plexiglass, plastic, etc.) over the pan and invert the gelatin. If it doesn't come loose in quick fashion, you need to help it by lifting a corner free, then invert the pan again. Your gel plate is ready to play!

If you did what I did, you could end up with a tear. No worries. Cut it up and place it in a microwave safe bowl, heat until melted, then pour it back in the pan and repeat the process. You can also change it from rectangular to round by doing the same thing and using a different pan/mold. Also, this doesn't have an odor, and doesn't degrade or rot. It's very stable and needs no refrigeration.

Here are some of the first prints I pulled. I used Basics acrylic paint (Michael's artist paint), Golden fluid acrylics and cheap Apple Barrel acrylic paint. They all worked about the same. If you want more time to work, mix a little fluid medium into the paint before you put it on the plate. That extends the drying time.

I used a variety of tools on my plate. I wasn't gentle because I wanted to know what my plate could do. It is really tough, and holds up to poking and smooshing. That said, it's not going to hold up if you stab it with a palette knife, but you can go into it with catalyst-type tools - I used cut cardboard, a floor adhesive texture tool, masks, and a palette knife.

I used Strathmore Bristol vellum and Gina K Designs Pure Luxury papers to pull these prints. I don't see much difference between them, except the GKD paper has a smoother finish. The paint, however, adds texture making the beginning hand of the paper moot.

This is going to be an awesome tool. I'm probably not going to use it every day, which makes the cover that much more important. Also be aware that once you unmold it, it's a bit like pandora's box - you can't fit it back in the pan the same way it was before you unmolded it. I cleaned it with a baby wipe and water. The best way to clean it is to put paper on it then let it sit until the paint is completely dry. The residual paint will stick to your paper and come off all at once this way.

I hope this encourages you to give a cheap plate a try. It's really easy and works great. Most of all, get out there and PLAY! Leave a comment if you have any questions, and I'll do my best to answer.

Ta for now,
~ky

Tutorial, Custom Embossed Letters

I have been swamped lately with deadlines and due dates. In making those projects, I've created a little tutorial for you to enjoy. Here's the project I made using this tutorial.

Monthly Journal Page - click to enlarge

First, you will cut your letters out using dies and any die machine. You can even do this with precut letters - pretty much anything you can cut from cardstock. I cut mine out using my Vagabond and Tim Holtz (Sizzix) Vintage Market Sizzlit on Gina K Designs Pure Luxury cardstock. I ran the letters through my Sticker Maker by Xyron (yours might be the "X" design).

Sticker Maker applies adhesive to the letters

I really love my little Xyron for alphabets. Just be sure to burnish the letters once you get them in the adhesive. I rub my embossing tool around the edges of each letter so I get a clean adhesive application.

Next, find an embossing folder you like that has a fairly detailed pattern. Since you are working with small surfaces, your detail pattern will have more of a chance of hitting all the pieces.

When you are satisfied with the placement of your letters in the embossing folder, run it through your machine.

Close up of embossed texture

I usually emboss my letters with the shiny plastic sheet still on the letters. It just keeps residual adhesive from building up in the folder. Isn't this simply gorgeous? I love all that dimension!

Sparkle it up with a Gelly Roll Star pen!

Now, you can do all sorts of fun stuff with this dimension. If you use Core'dinations cardstock, you can lightly sand the surface to remove the color and expose the inner paper. I wanted a chilly feel to this, after all it is a January page, so I used my favorite Gelly Roll, the clear star! Delicious bits of shine without the mess of glitter. I outlined my letters with a black Copic multiliner to help them stand out from the background.

Play around with this technique and see how many other ways you can use it. I would love to see your work! Have fun!

Ta for now,
♥ ~ky