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WELCOME to my little arty world! Trying to make art is a huge part of my life ... love nothing more than messing around with inks and sprays and generally making a mess!

Sunday 13 July 2014

First time with the Gelli Plate!

SOooooo the stencils FINALLY arrived from Clarity so I was able to roll up my sleeves, take that deep breath and just Have-a-Go!
Fully intended on blogging ALL the prints I took but managed to zap them from my 'phone and am quite cross with myself as I now don't have a record of those first bloomin' awful attempts.  
No matter how hard I pressed or how ever much acrylic paint I used I simply could not get a complete print.  It was a very hot day though and I do wonder if the paint was just drying too quickly ... it is fast drying anyway so factor in the heat of the day and maybe that wasn't helping my inexperience with the Gelli & paints of any kind (give me a distress ink pad any day please!!)

One friend, in particular, had been very encouraging with the whole Gelli experience and I was heading off to Maria Simms' craft meet in Shrewsbury on Saturday (12th) and kinda hoped to make something acceptable to give my friend as a thank you for all her belief in me and for taking me to the meet ... I had seen Barbara Grey's youtube Tuesday video for this project (hence the wait for the stencils to arrive) and thought I would attempt it for my first go. Watched the video over and over again and after about eight attempts I managed this:
First pic is the front (duh! Like you couldn't figure that out for yourself!!!) 
Hadn't got any stencil brushes so just went for it with my distress blending tools jobbies and they seemed to work ok.
Dyed some of the wonderful Mr Holtz's crinkle ribbon (love, love, love that stuff) - it came out a little more brown than I intended (as I know my friend is not a huge fan of anything grunge!) but decided to go with it.



  The back made use of one of the first failed prints ... as all you Gelli users will already know the coloured ink here was what was left on the plate after pulling your first print ... good old buff titanium brayered over the top and hey-ho it releases the dried coloured paint underneath and you get this.  Was going to bin it as a failure but actually quite liked it and it gave me somewhere to write a little message along the  blank bit at the bottom and I could pretend it was supposed to be like that!
Alas, when cutting it to fit I did get it wrong and was left with a white edge along two sides ... the blue border was a case of "there are no mistakes in craffting, only layers" and is a layer to cover up the mistake!


A close up of the Maya Angelou verse that I have always loved and as this was intended for Margaret Craner (Silvercrafter) it seemed just the right occasion to use it.  Margaret has been so supportive and encouraging and has more belief in me than I have in myself and even though we have "known" each other for more years than I can recall we have never really "known" each other and a wonderful friendship has recently seen us battling through life together.  I shall be forever grateful for these past few months Maggie - thank you.


 And a close up of the fandabidozieeeee effects you can get with the Gelli ... can't wait to play more with it!


So this project was totally a copy of Barbara Grey's youtube Tuesday project and can claim only the execution of it and not the design or forethought that went into it ... if Barbara did it on that video then I did it too.  Hopefully as I get used to it and more used to using acrylic paints (I'm a crafter not an artist!) then I may even branch out and experiment but for now want to make a couple (at least) more of these to get to grips with the techniques and then who knows ... the world is your Gelli plate!

Er, maybe!

4 comments:

  1. Absolutely brilliant Debbie! I adore your card and salute you for doing so well with the Gelli plate - mine is languishing a bit here due to lack of success, sigh.

    The Maya Angelou saying is just so right for a friend like Maggie - one of life's treasures for sure!

    Hugs, Di xx

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  2. Gorgeous Debbie, I know Marg will have been thrilled to receive it. Very impressive first attempt, I'd say. I did have a play with Margs, but have to say the technique just did not grab me, I'm afraid. Hugs, Shaz xx

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  3. As the recipient of this lovely project, I was so touched by the thoughts behind it, and very much in awe of the ability to come to grips with the Gelli so quickly. You can be sure that I will treasure this piece of art, Debbie, and I am just so glad that you had such a good day with Maria Simms. I hope you are going to show us all the beautiful pieces you did that day. They were really lovely. I shall also be interested to see how you use those new techniques and adapt them to your way of working. xx Maggie
    PS Shaz, we shall have to have a proper session with the Gelli and see if I can change your mind. I can see so many ways it would suit your work.

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