Leaf Print Sympathy cards
Posted: August 6, 2024 Filed under: gel press, Penny Black | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
I’ve been collecting leaves, flowers and grasses over recent weeks for botanical gelprinting and thought I would try some damaged leaves eaten by beetles. The holes in the leaves leave a lacy pattern on the print which is delicate alongside the leaf veins.
I applied black and green paint to a 5″x7″ gel plate and lay the leaves vein-side down in the paint. I used printer paper for this print and pressed it down on top of the leaves.
After pressing the paper firmly over the whole surface I lifted one corner to remove a leaf then pressed it down again and repeated on other corners to remove all three leaves. By lifting just a corner at the time the paper stayed in the same place to pick up the texture print left by the leaf on the plate. You can see the process in the short video below.
I decided to make a couple of sympathy cards using a small Penny Black sentiment. To add a bit of interest around the gel prints I scored criss-crossing lines on the background panel using my scor-pal. So don’t bypass those imperfect leaves when looking for gel printing elements; the intricate patterns are quite beautiful. This post includes affiliate links from Scrap’n’Stamp . If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Collage the Blues
Posted: July 31, 2024 Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, Nature Walk | Tags: collage, Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, gelli plate 11 Comments
You might wonder what I do with all my gel prints, and believe me I have many, many gel prints! If I got rid of the partial prints that didn’t really work I would have less to deal with but sometimes the partial prints can become favourite cards or journal pages.
To create this collage of blues I tore a couple of partial prints into squares and stamped the delicate stamp from Darkroom Door’s nature walk set at different angles on the the squares. I put these ‘scraps’ back together and the partial prints brought shades of blue, pops of white and bits of pattern and texture.
So, how many gel prints is too many? You can’t have too many!
Leaf & Stencil print – Video
Posted: July 16, 2024 Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, gelli plate, simply perfect mix & match sentiments, Tutorial | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, Spellbinders, video 6 Comments
Last week I shared a leaf and lavender gel print video; in today’s video I have added some gold dots through the totally dotty stencil for some shimmer and extra interest. In the video you will see the gel printing process. I turned the printed panel into five cards and I have listed the added stamps or dies below each card photo. I have an in-person botanical gel printing class coming up on Saturday July 27th and there are a couple of spaces left if you’re interested.
I added a die-cut sentiment in dark green to the panel above using the Spellbinders ‘simply perfect mix & match’ sentiment dies.
Even though I brayered blue, green and black paint very randomly on the plate, I like the way patches of one colour or another appear on the leaves.
To create the card above I embossed a white panel using the Stampin’ Up embossing folder scripty, added a gold mat behind the gel printed panel and added a Darkroom Door sentiment from the ‘happy birthday’ sentiment strip.
The panel above covers the whole card front and has a stacked green die-cut sentiment from the same Spellbinders set mentioned earlier. I stacked two layers for the sentiment to help it stand out from the stems on the gel print.
Another full card front panel above with a Darkroom Door sentiment. The gold looks shinier in real life but I think you can see some shimmer on both the card above and below.
You can cut your gel print panels to any size, sometimes cutting a large shape into smaller shapes is a good way to add interest to a layout. I’ve added another DD sentiment to the card above. I had fun printing the panel and working out how to get the most out of it for cards. I can give these away individually but I think I might keep them together as a gift set.
Leaf & Lavender Gel Print – Video
Posted: July 9, 2024 Filed under: Classes, gel press, Tutorial | Tags: Classes, gel press, gel printing, Tutorial, video 6 Comments
With all the summer rain and summer sun we’ve been having lately I am surrounded by plants and flowers. And when that happens what do I do? Well yes, I pick some and put them in vases. I wander around the garden and enjoy them but I also gel print them. I’ve done a couple of plant printing sessions recently and have some prints, cards and videos to share over the next few weeks.
I set up to film recently and began with what I thought would be a warm up print; I don’t always film my warm ups but I am so happy I did because I think this print was the best of the session.
I did this print without an end purpose in mind but I think it would make a great book cover for a future hand made book. The leaves look like sumac but I’m not certain. The flowers are lavender from my garden and the buds were closed when I printed them. I noticed today the buds have opened so I will pick some more and try printing them again. The fragrance was lovely as I used them but the ‘fragrance’ of acrylic paint definitely overpowers the lavender on the print.
My mind is full of botanical gel printing ideas right now as I am not only making videos but also teaching an in-person class here in Ottawa. I’ll be back with more botanical gel print inspiration soon as I’ve already turned some prints into cards.
Girl in the Garden Journal Page
Posted: June 18, 2024 Filed under: Alexandra Renke, Art Journal, Darkroom Door, gel press, global postmarks, mandala | Tags: Alexandra Renke, Art Journal, collage, Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing 4 Comments
Although I made this page a month or so back; it is an appropriate theme for right now. We are in the ‘garden days’. My back garden is looking colourful and I love wandering out there each day to see what is growing, blooming or falling over!
This page began as a collage of book page pieces. I didn’t have a plan but wanted a base. I used pages from an old novel, an old atlas, sewing instructions, sheet music and other scraps to cover the double page spread in my 7″x7″ handmade journal. Months passed before I came back to do more.
Before adding colour I painted some off white paint over the collaged pages. You might think the calendar image was the inspiration for the pages but bronze and the teal gel prints came first. Both prints were on tissue paper and were most likely made as I picked up extra paint around a primary design. As they were on tissue paper they revealed some of the print underneath when glued to the journal pages. I added ink through an Alexandra Renke mandala stencil.
At this point I went looking for pictures to add to the colourful abstract pages and this one from a calendar co-ordinated well. It is from an old art calendar and is a detail from Eugene Grasset’s painting ‘Young Girl in a Garden’. I used some liquid watercolours to extend the painting onto my journal pages, made a faux stamp, added some splatter and stamping then let it all dry. Sometimes I’m not sure when a journal page is finished but I think this one is.
Rose Print Card
Posted: June 7, 2024 Filed under: Correspondence, Darkroom Door, Echidna Studios, gel press, Roses digital stamp set | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Echidna Studios, gel printing 1 Comment
I’ve shared quite a few gel print collage cards now made from squares or rectangles. Today’s card also combines a couple of gel prints but in a different style. Both the blue background print and the gold strip are gel prints.
The background print and the little banner tag both feature rose stencils from my ‘roses digital stamp set‘ available as a digital file in the Echidna Studios etsy store. The set has three rose designs and I have cut stencils of different sizes from each of the designs which I have used mainly for gel printing but also with alcohol inks and basic stenciling.
To complete this card I added some stamping using a Darkroom Door text stamp and a little sentiment. This post includes an affiliate link from Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you buy from Echidna Studios etsy store my daughter and I get all kinds of excited.
Birds & Feathers
Posted: June 5, 2024 Filed under: Collage cards, Darkroom Door, Feathers, gel press, on a wire, Penny Black | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies 2 Comments
Same concept, different colour palette. I’ve been sharing my collaged gel print cards over recent weeks featuring a lot of blue prints. You know I love blue but it isn’t the only colour I print with. Although I have gel-printed with feathers, the ones featured here were all stamped. You can add interest to your prints with stamping or stenciling or other techniques; you don’t have to leave them just the way they pulled off the plate.
For this bird themed card I chose yellow, orange and greenish prints then stamped feathers on them before cutting them into squares. To make the squares I sometimes use a square punch, but often tear the panels with a metal edge ruler so I get some white of the paper on the edge. The feather stamps are from Darkroom Door ‘Feathers’ set. The birds die is called ‘on a wire’ and it’s from Penny Black.
Speckled Leaf Trails
Posted: May 30, 2024 Filed under: Alcohol Ink, gel press, Lavinia, leaf trails stencil, Taylored Expressions | Tags: Alcohol Ink, gel press, gel printing, Lavinia, Taylored Expressions 2 Comments
If this design looks familiar it’s because I posted a couple of similar cards a few weeks back. They featured the same pretty Lavinia stencil, ‘leaf trails’.
The difference between the cards is partly the colours but more significantly today’s cards feature splatter! You know how I feel about splatter. I always say if a project doesn’t seem quite finished, add some splatter.
The panels on these cards were made with alcohol inks on a gel plate. I dropped three or four alcohol inks on the plate along with some isopropyl alcohol to help the inks move and blend. I dropped the leaf trails stencil on top and let the inks dry. Once the ink on the plate was dry I splatted some isopropyl alcohol over the design, waited a minute and lifted the stencil. I used white acrylic paint to pull the print on heavy cardboard then added Taylored Expressions sentiments to complete the cards. This post includes an affiliate link from Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. And remember, if in doubt, add some splatter!
Zig Zag Print cards
Posted: May 28, 2024 Filed under: gel press, Heather lowercase die set, Penny Black, Pink Fresh studio, Stencils, Tim Holtz, wild flowers #1, Zigs & zags 3 Comments
Recently I posted several ’tiled’ collage cards on the blog and mentioned there would be more to come. Today’s cards once again feature gel printed panels arranged and decorated in two ways.
I used three different gel prints to ’tile’ the card above, a plain blue print, a print created with a zig-zag stencil and a print made with the an impression from an embossing folder. To tie together the dark blue, light blue and yellow + blue prints I added a navy wildflower (Tim Holtz) and navy ink splatter.
To create the square birthday card below I used ’tiles’ from the same print but rearranged them on the card front so they didn’t fit together like a jigsaw.
The brassy-gold paint used on the gel print prompted me to die-cut letters, stars and the word birthday from a similar colour cardstock to create a sentiment. This post includes affiliate links from Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Pink & Blue Squares
Posted: May 18, 2024 Filed under: Collage cards, Dies, gel press, gift card pocket, Penny Black, Tim Holtz, wild flowers #1 | Tags: collage, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, Tim Holtz 3 Comments
As mentioned in previous posts my stash of gel prints is considerable. I am always on the look out for ways to use them. Large prints are great for covers on handmade books; I use many smaller prints for card fronts and collage.
These two collage cards are made from four or five different gel prints. I punched the squares with a 1 3/8″ punch then fiddled around with the layout until I was happy with it. Because I love things to match all the prints had some blue in them and there is some repetition of pink as well.
The prints were part of my stash and were not made specifically for these cards so some have patterns and others were probably second or third pulls to clean off a plate. Once I had them arranged to my satisfaction I die-cut Tim Holtz wildflowers and added a tiny Penny Black tag. You’ll see more of this style in the next few weeks as I made them in several different colour combinations. Those of you who know me might have noticed the dark blue splatter on the both cards; I always think a bit of splatter ties thing s together.
Heather Telford 