Botanical Gelli Prints

I cut a few more stencil/masks, some smaller leaves and some dragonflies. This is an arrangement of several stems together, with the dragonflies. I have posted this on Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday please check out these other wonderful textile artists.

The first photo is a finished Gelli print, after I have added printing and stencils to it. The 2nd pic is how the Gelli print first turned out. I used several masks over a mauve paint, then laid down the fabric, it turned out very crisp and clear, but it needed more layers. I stenciled a darker mauve with a poppy pod, and extra foliage, the stencils worked well and the X-ray plastic was easy to wash the paint off of. I used several shades of paint a white pink and a darker one, with a sequin waste for a stencil, it added a lot of texture to the background, and some highlights to the pods and leaves. I think all my Gelli prints I made yesterday will get this multiple layer treatment.

These are the original prints, just using the masks. I made several different colorways, I used large jars of Versatex Textile paints, to see if I got a different feel than the cheap $1 acrylic bottles. I also added a colorless extender, hoping for more transparency, I think it helped a bit, it's not as opaque/chalky as the cheaper paints, but it covered well.

I think you can see the quality of the paints best, on the ghost prints. There was plenty of paint to get a good print, and transparent enough when I added a 2nd print, to show through. You can compare the ghost and the original side by side.

After making the ghost print, I also used the peeled off masks to make a print onto a clean piece of fabric. I think I like these the best, I can't wait to add more layers to them, but I've never liked how the white/muslin background looks. I may add a light wash of paint to the backgrounds. So I am very happy how these turned out, especially the layered mauve one, now to play with the others.

THIS IS ALSO MY 200TH POST! Thank you everyone for following.