Craftytrog's Arty Adventures: September 2019

Monday, 30 September 2019

Birgit's Gel Printing Challenge - Week 4 and beyond

Hello Everyone! I back to share my remaining monoprints for Birgit Koopsen's Instagram challenge.

Day 22 - Monochromatic

Day 23 - Patterned Paper

The great thing about patterned paper, is that it sometimes gives you an image resist. Can you spot the little flower on the patterned paper, from a previous print?

Day 24 - Circles. Always a favourite...so many prints!

This print was made with multiple mops ups from previous days.

Day 25 - Wax Crayons. Draw a design with crayons onto paper, pressing hard to get a thick layer. Use acrylic paint on your gel plate to print on your design, then once the paint is dry, scrape the paint off where the wax is. Hard on the hands this one! Gave me crampy hands!

Day 26 - Recycle

Day 27 - Burlap/Hessian. The loose strands are great to use too.

Day 28 - Vaseline. Lovely and messy, but fun results!

Day 29 - Embossing Folders. I have a tonne of these that don't get much use these days, so great for my gel printing.

And finally, Day 30 - Type/Text. I did some image resist with magazine pages and newspaper, and also stamped onto the gel plate with text stamps.

Magazine page...

Newspaper...

Text stamps...

I have a wonderfully large selection of prints now, and I can't wait to use them in my art. I may just frame some of my favourites!

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

Monday, 23 September 2019

Birgit's Gel Printing Challenge - Week Three

Hi Everyone! I'm back to share some more monoprints with you, from this past week.

Day 15 - Fall/Autumn

Day 16 - Yarn

Day 17 - Texture Plates

Day 18 - Vegetables

Day 19 - Complimentary Colours

Day 20 - Felt Tip Markers. I stamped flowers onto my gel plate with black archival ink, then coloured them with Adirondak pens, allowing the ink to dry, then pulled the print with white acrylic paint. Unfortunately it was getting a bit late in the day when I took the photo!

Day 21 - Image Resist, using magazine images. Not easy to explain, but Birgit has a great YouTube tutorial on the Gelliarts channel.

Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Alison xox

Monday, 16 September 2019

Birgit's Gel Printing Challenge - Week Two

Hi Everyone! Here are some of my gel prints for week two of Birgit Koopsen's Instagram challenge.

Day 8 - Pastels & Chalks. I used Pan Pastels. These do stain the gel plate a little, but it's not a problem.

Day 9 - Stencils

Day 10 - Pigment Ink Pads. I used Distress Oxides.

Day 11 - Multiple Layers. I used stamps with Stazon ink, paint pens, and acrylic paint.

Day 12 - Repeat Patterns. Birgit showed us how to create texture rollers, using cardboard tubes with various items glued onto them - sequin waste, wall-paper, burlap, foam shapes. Then you just need to find a small paint roller they fit onto. The red and turquoise print below was made using plastic cake packaging.

Day 13 - Multi Media. I built up layers on my gel plate with alcohol ink, archival ink stamping, Pan Pastel, Posca Paint Pens, Krylon Gold Leaf Pen, and acrylic paint to pull the print.

Day 14 - Texture. I made some texture plates, using texture paste through stencils and pressing stamps etc. into it to create interesting texture. I also made texture plates by spreading a thick layer of crackle paste onto one piece of board, and bead gel onto another.

I hope these prints have inspired you to do some mono-printing. If you haven't got a gel plate, you could try using a plastic or acetate sheet, acrylic block, smooth tile, or basically anything that doesn't soak the paint up.

Alison xox

Wednesday, 11 September 2019

Grateful

Hi Everyone! Dina Wakley has a new monthly 'Gratitude' challenge on the RangerInk blog, and this month it's being grateful for small things. As you can see on my page, I'm grateful for a good journaling pen. I just bought some Uniball Gel Impact pens, which seem really good on my painty gel print page.