15/12/2014

Christmas Card With My Gelli Printing Plate

If you're on twitter and post your work there then you'll know how wide and far your image can travel not just to your followers but to anyone who is on there.  I posted a gelli print I had created and it was picked up by a pen company - Pen Heaven based down in London (follow them on facebook).  Paul came across the twitter picture and was intrigued by the process and asked if I would create a Christmas card which they could use in their 12 day of Christmas project.  So here I am writing this rather long post on a sunny but cold Monday morning.

This tutorial show you how I created my gelli prints using the Gelli Arts printing plate.  There are endless possibilities and and no two will ever be the same.  What I will say is have fun and go with the flow -  slap the paint on if you don't like it wipe it off.  There really is no right or wrong.  This is how I created my print and I know if I do it again I will create something else which will be unique and different. 

I am by no means an expert in fact I would say I am still a novice at the gelli plate.  So why am I doing this tutorial?  Well mainly because I was asked and also to show that you don't have to be an expert to do this type of printing.  I know when I first bought my plate I was intimidated by the whole process and never thought I would like creating in this way.  I'll put my hand up and say I love it and it's not going to be one of those fad buys where you use it for a short time and then it gets left on a shelf somewhere.  

So lets get started - the first image is the card I created and the 2nd is of the print from which it was made from.


Gelli print Christmas Card

Gelli print from which I created the above card

Some of the supplies I used for the card

Gelli plate by GELLI ARTs

1. apply blobs of acrylic paint to the gelli plate
2.using roller spread the paint to create background add paper on top and rub to transfer colour
3. cut triangles to use as a mask
4. apply blobs of colour in lighter tones 

5. spread colour over the plate and masks
6. using the corrugated board, sequin left over and bubble wrap create texture on the painted surface
7.  apply the background paper over and pull 2nd print - let dry
8. using black pen add the outlines and and 'bubbles' 

9. paint the bubbles with the water soluble wax crayons
10. add white swirls over the coloured bubbles and go over the edges with black pen to make the bubbles stand out
11.  crop the image to neaten the edges and add other elements using the black and white pens.
12.  using some left over pieces from another gelli print cut out the trunks of the trees (or you can draw them in)   Apply a thin layer of Golden regular gel - semi gloss - let dry

13. once the gel has dried apply  Golden's clear tar gel to create the bubbles as you can see it's cloudy but will dry clear (you can use any glue which will created a dome diamond glaze/glossy accents)
14 the bubbles will dry clear and give another texture to the artwork.  Now at this point you can cut it down further and create 2 cards or leave it as it is.  

I've left mine as it is for now - the above image shows how it would look if it was mounted and framed.

I hope the above steps have given you a starting point of pulling a gelli print.
There are more detailed and informative videos and tutorials by the lovely people at Gelli Arts. So why not pop on over to their blog website  or facebook page.

Have a fabulous week and enjoy your gelli printing
Anita



15 comments:

Peggy@ColorMoiMandalas said...

Lovely card, and thank you for sharing it with us! Merry Christmas!

Victoria said...

Lovely tutorial! Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing with us Anita.

Terry Jenkins

Jakki said...

Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial. I am learning a huge amount from kind people like you who share their skills and experiences ;0 Amazed by the generosity of the people I meet on these pages!

Win Dinn, Artist said...

Lovely card design - and a perfect use for those Gelli print scraps!

Gerrittina said...

Wauw, this is a great card. I love it!!

Unknown said...

Very nice. This is my first encounter of this medium. Interesting. Thanks for the tutorial, Anita :)

Helena said...

Beautiful! (Is there a step that says when to take the masks off?)

EFKaplan said...

Outstanding!! Positively gorgeous.

itsamistry said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your lovely comments.

Joy Healey said...

That's one for when my granddaughters get a little bigger:-) I can just see them loving Gelli print, and it looks so lovely too. Really great to hear how the word had spread by Facebook

Nancy said...

I love this and I ordered a small Gelli plate 3 x 5 and a larger one 8 x 10 last week and I am waiting for it to arrive! I came across your tutorial and so glad to read it and learn from you! Awesome print! Can't wait to make my own . It will probably have to wait till after Christmas but I'm hoping the plates come before so I have a nice present to myself!!

MariLynn said...

This is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

Margaret said...

Nearly 5 years since you first posted this, I recently found this post as I expand my use and experience of my gel plate. I was inspired by your post to give your technique a go - I have given you thanks on my blog https://margaretlcrawford.blogspot.com/2019/08/gel-printing-101.html
Thank you for the inspiration, Margaret

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, great, easy to understand instructions. Love from France 2/12/22