Hi there.
Hope you’re okay. Spoke to a friend on the phone who is self-isolating this morning. No no no. He’s not self-isolating this morning! I spoke to him this morning! The English language is a minefield, innit!
He’s a journalist, so he’s has been in contact with people who have been in contact with – and so on. He said we – you and I – are lucky that we have our crafting, that we have our art. He said that our Clarity Community would be a lifesaver for those of us who have to go into hibernation to stay safe.
So on that brighter note, here’s a project I showed you yesterday, to get your teeth into. If you haven’t got a Gelpress, if you’ve fancied learning how to get to grips with one, but haven’t found the time, now would be a good time. Get the 8×10 and we will give you the 9×11 Megamount as a gift.
Right. Here goes. Get all your stash ready first. You need the following ingredients:
The 8×10 Gel Press with FREE Mega Mount worth £14.99
Alcohol Inks Black Mustard Meadow
Yellow daubers Sponge Applicators
Alcohol blending solution in a spritzer
Copy Paper
A die cutting machine. I like/we sell the Gemini
Right. Now we’ve got everything handy, let’s get started. This is a very cool trick and you get two for one!
Lay the Gel Press on the Megamount, and the stencil on the Gel Press
Dab black Alcohol ink on the Gel Press and the stencil, then Mustard with another dyellow dauber, then pick a green. I went with Meadow. I have never used black alcohol ink, so I wanted to see what happens…
Once the ink has dried, peel the stencil off the Gel Press.
Get your Die cutting machine ready. You need a rubber shim inderneath the card if you want to emboss it. This is the plate sandwich I make, from the base up:
Outer plate,
rubber shim,
poly bag,
chromo card,
stencil ink facing down,
sheet of copy paper,
frosted plate,
Other outer plate.
Spritz the glossy Chromo card well with Blending solution. Quickly lay the inky stencil face down on the spritzed Chromo card, complate your plate sandwich and whizz it through the machine quickly. Speed is of the essence here.
Fantastic result though.
Now for Part 2. Back to the Gel Press plate. The ink will be bone dry by now. Touch it. Blimey! Look at how dried out my skin is! That’s all the cleaning!! I took my rings off this morning too. The soap was causing a rash underneath the rings. Gordon Bennett!
Squirt some white acrylic onto a sheet of copy paper, roll it out with a brayer and then cover the inky image on the Gel Press. This is the trick: to figure out how much paint you need and how quickly it dries. If you use too much paint, you won’t pull the colour print. If you don’t use enough, you won’t pull a colour print. The trick is to cover the whole area quite quickly with paint, then start removing any excess paint with the roller by rolling it off onto scrap paper, until you can see the image just peeping through the white paint. See here?
When you think it is just right (this, like most things, comes with experience), flip the plate over onto the white stencil card and press down.
Flip the plate back and rub the back of the white card with your palm and then peel the card off the GelpPress – to reveal your beautiful mono print!
Check out the black ink!! Fantastic! Look how it has blending with the yellow and the green! That’s my lesson for today. What’s yours?
So here are my two prints. A positive and a negative.
Trimmed and framed. Makes a great wall feature.
A gift and a card. To be put away for when I need a gift and a card.
Now wash your hands, keep calm, keep clean – a keep crafting!!!
Love and hugs,
Barb xxx