Masks for Gelli Printing

I made several pages of masks for the Gelli printing process. I had started out using freezer paper, and after 1 or 2 uses they were no good anymore, and I had to make new ones. So I decided to make a whole page of masks, scan them into the computer and then I can print them when I want one. I made a page of several different butterflies, teacups, fruit(apples, pears, cherries, lemon) teapot, creamer and sugar, tulips, and I traced my hand, did a left and right and a smaller one too. So when I went to do some Gelli printing I cut out a bunch of tulips, made light colored textured backgrounds, arranged the tulips, in pairs, trios, with the page horizontal and vertical, and had some fun trying different arrangements. If I had to make each tulip cutout as I needed it, I would have lost the creative spontaneity. See the previous post for some examples of finished prints. Make your own page of masks, or I give you permission to save and copy my masks, to use for your own personal projects. Peggy said she made some fish masks, I'm thinking of quiet a few more pages to draw and scan. I can certainly paint and print, faster than I can quilt them, so maybe I need some restraint(oh Yea, that's gonna happen!) I hope you give it a try, you can order the "Gelli Plates" from GelliArts.com and watch the instructional videos on their blog, they were very helpful teaching tools and beautiful examples to look at. You can also make your own gelatin plate, directions are in the February Quilting Arts Magazine. Use 4 packets of unflavored gelatin to one cup of cold water, stir to disolve, add one cup hot water, pour into a 9x9 pan, set for several hours or overnight. You can remove the gelatin from the pan or use it as is, roll acrylic paint on the gelatin with a brayer, stamp, draw or impress objects into the paint. Lay a piece of fabric on top and smooth with your hands. Lift off the fabric and dry, add additional layers if desired.

Even More Gelli Prints

Peggy is right, this is addicting, she made a gelatin plate the old fashioned way, and has been printing landscapes with directions from Quilting Arts magazine. I spent a little time making a few more "Gelli" prints. I wanted to try some of the different masks that I had made. I used a butterfly, hand and tulips masks, and scanned them into the computer, so I don't have to redraw every time I need one. The butterfly with the moon is my favorite one, I just cut a circle out of freezer paper, it has a shimmery opalescent turquoise acrylic paint, I already know how I want to quilt and embellish this one. Also the pink hand will be fun to embellish, bracelet, watch, rings, etc... I have to finish some other stuff before I start quilting these. More paint is needed, a shopping trip to Micheal's, yea, it takes quiet a bit of the liquid cheap bottle paints.

More Gelli Prints

Having fun!! I made more Gelli prints the other evening, just started with a few, because I knew I would add extra layers of paint and I didn't want to get overwhelmed. I keep coming back to circles, maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something. I also cut freezer paper masks of tea cups, and I really like how that worked, the second print is a ghost print with the leftover paint, when I removed the mask. I got distracted for a while, drawing images for masks. I didn't want to have to re-draw each time I wanted a teacup or butterfly, so I decided to draw a whole page and scan them into the computer. I made a page of teacups, teapot and creamers, butterflies, fruit, tulips, and my hand. Now I want to "Gelli Paint" again!! Now I can just print out a page, cut out and use the mask, with out stopping to draw each item. Go ahead and right click on the tulips, and "Save Image As" try it for yourself, and let me know what you make, share some pictures with me.

Loran's Giraffe

After the marathon procrastination session, I finally got down to finishing Loran's Christmas present. It is "Gerry the Giraffe" pattern from Linda Lee Designs, I don't usually do commercial patterns, but it was just so cute, and my sister-in-law collects giraffes. I fused the applique, and added the leaves and little blue bird to the picture. I had found some appropriate "dingle balls" and fringe trim to add to the mane, they had been out of the trim, when I bought the pattern. I added the African border print for the border, I had just enough when cut carefully, to balance it symmetrically. It took longer to quilt than I had planned, but it came out very well. So now, a trip to the post office. It is 21" x 46" just right to hang on a door.

Purple Bellflower, and Orange Sherbet Leaves

Oh, what fun it was to play with the Gelli Plates. I love the fabric I made, I immediately wanted to make something with several of the pieces. I really like making "Journal Page" size pieces, they go together quickly, and can be finished, I have a problem finishing things. So the 8" x 10" Gelli size was perfect. I guess I could've added borders, that would have made it more "quilty" but not as "arty" It is strange how our perceptions work like that. I added a raw edge applique of a purple bellflower to the teal print, with the silver lattice. A few beads in the center of the flower helped, and I am still thinking of doing a thread painted dragonfly on it. The second piece had subtle orange sherbet colored oak leaves masked out, with a medium green overlay. It quilted beautifully with a delicate orange rayon thread to outline and add veins to the leaves. I echo quilted the background with a light green rayon, but it did not differentiate between the leaf and the background. A small stipple in the background would have made the leaves pop out more, and create a textural difference. So it needed something else. I had a collection of leaves I had made with painted Tyvek and Lutrador, that had been melted with holes and bubbles, and then free motion stitched into leaves. They made a very 3-D addition to the page, I thought I had a closer color match, but the redder leaves are now the focus, not the subtle background. But that is ok, the background should BE the background. I can't wait to do a few more pieces of "Gellied" fabric!

Procrastination

This is what procrastination looks like! I am VERY good at it. Last Friday night, I should have been finishing a Christmas present(only quilters understand Xmas presents in February) and I decided to cut up some sports fabric I had for my nephew. I started cutting 6 1/2" squares of a variety of fabrics, baseballs, soccer balls, equipment etc... and I just kept going. I saved the biggest piece for the border and maybe the backing. Instead of putting the stack of squares away, I started to sew them, and never stopped. I knew if I stopped it would end up in a drawer or shoe box for several years, so I kept at it. I can be very stubborn, and I didn't feel like doing anything else, so I sewed, and sewed, and it got bigger and bigger. After using all the squares, I added a border and finished the top by Sunday afternoon. Whew, a marathon, I always say, "Yea, you can do a quilt in a day, a 24 hour day!" It will eventually be for my nephew, he is a great soccer player, and he is going to college right now. Maybe I'll get it quilted in time for graduation. Ha, ha, ha, maybe! I have started to make, adult, queen size quilts for my nieces and nephews, they all have baby quilts, and got wall hangings, as they were growing up. Now as they are into adulthood, between 16 and 28 years, they need bed quilts. The first one is going out to my niece who is getting married in April, as soon as I can get it packaged and shipped. So now I need to decided what else I don't want to do, and get something else made instead.

Gelli Plate Printing

I finally got my "Gelli" plate in the mail! yea! I was really looking forward to it. I ordered from GelliArts.com their videos were very helpful to get me started. I got out my paints, tools, and some white fabric I had cut into strips to treat with the Bubble Jet Set. Charlie took a nap, so I was all set to work in peace. I rolled paint on with a hard rubber brayer, then used a comb to drag wavy lines through, and laid the fabric on top to print. I used several different tools to imprint into the paint, rug grid, foam stamps, napkin ring for circles, several different combs, and other found objects to design on the wet paint. After the first round, I decided I needed some masks to add another layer, and still show the color of the first layer. I had collected some oak leaves yesterday, with this in mind, I also cut circles out of freezer paper. I tried to decide if it was better to go light to dark, or dark to light, with the paint layers. Either worked well, but a light 2nd layer needs to be opaque enough to show up on top of a dark undercoat. The second layer NEEDS some empty space for the first layer to show through. I kept adding layers, especially to the pieces I did not like, extra layers helped a lot, to add depth and complexity. I didn't like the mat finish of the cheap acrylic paints, so I tried the Versatex fabric paints that I have, a good yellow helped brighten up a few of the pieces, but I probably should have thinned it down with some fabric medium anyway. I will try fabric medium with all the paints next time, to see if I can get the colors to be more transparent. A lot of paint built up on some of the pieces with 3 to 4 layers of paint, and they are pretty stiff. I finished some with metallic silver and gold acrylic paint, either stamping directly on the fabric, or stamping on the Gelli plate, then laying the fabric on top of that. I decided to try a few pieces with wet fabric, to get the colors to bleed a little and soak into the fabric, and not be so mat finished. I wet 3 pieces and added color to them, then laid them out to dry a little. I used a foam stamp into the next layer of paint, and printed the stamp onto a 2nd piece of fabric too. They came out very nice, in several variations, I kept darkening the green paint on the leaf print. I also made several "Ghost" prints, a second printing from the paint left on the Gelli plate, after I removed the oak leaves I had used as a mask. I will definitely be doing more of this!! Come on Peggy more play time!