Gel print cityscapes

Posted: June 16, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, large stars, Stencils | Tags: | 11 Comments

Yesterday was coast line, today we are back to the city. I hesitated before sharing these as I am still experimenting with the technique but I think these two panels are good representations of what I am aiming for.

These panels are quite large; they are printed on rice paper from a 12″x18″ pad. My gel plate for these is 12″ x 14″ so it was tight on the edges and sometimes I didn’t get it lined up exactly. With gel printing not getting things lined up exactly is part of the charm in my opinion. I initially bought the rice paper for painting but it was the perfect size for large gel prints so I tried it and liked it.

My technique for both these panels was the same. I began with a two or three colour base layer then every time I printed over the top I lay rectangular pieces of thick magazine paper over sections of the panel to mask ‘buildings’. Some of the rectangles had little squares and rectangles cut out; I used the Waffle Flower ‘color combos’ dies for that.

The tall panel has gold stars in the sky created using the Darkroom Door large ‘stars’ stencil but other than that I didn’t add texture to the layers. I plan to do more of that as I keep experimenting.

My plan wasn’t to make one rather dark and the other light but that is what happened. Both feature gold paint but in the lighter one it has showed up as a sheen in the photograph and distracts a bit from the ‘buildings’.

The process is enjoyable but takes some planning and thinking because any surface that I want to preserve has to be masked on the next and subsequent layers. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes not, but I’m still happy with these abstract cityscapes.

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From the ocean or the shore?

Posted: June 15, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: gel press | Tags: , | 11 Comments

Today’s gel prints are inspired by aerial views of parts of the West Australian coast. I haven’t been there but the views I’ve seen on youtube show these colours. These panels are roughly slimline card size but they are not made into cards yet because I’m not sure if I want to send them or display them. I think a very slim black strip with a sentiment could look good but I can’t commit to it yet. I’ve already started worked on a larger similar print so I might be able to part with these ones.

I also have a bit of exciting/terrifying news about Craft Roulette; if you want to hear more about that make sure you read to the end of this post.

I also wonder which way you think they should be oriented. The view above appears to be looking from the ocean back to the beach. The view below is from land out to the ocean. What’s your preference? There is no right or wrong of course.

I created these on a large gel plate in a few layers, not too many as I didn’t want to muddy the sandy end. I started with blue acrylic paint in two tones covering half the plate then mustard covering the other. The next print once again had blue but I put some texture marks in it with a homemade ‘wide comb’ edge and added a rusty colour at the other end.

The final prints were to add the white foam and extra blue so I sponged the blue and white acrylic paint onto the gel plate in roughly the middle, took another print and then repeated the sponging. I used a mixture of acrylic paints, some liquitex basics, some decoarts Americana, but in the midst of a gel printing session I don’t always take note of what colours I use and by the end of the session all the colours are out on the table! The cardstock is a lightweight white card, about 60lb weight, not the usual 110lb I use for card bases.

In other news, on Friday evening I will be a guest on Craft Roulette, a live improv crafting game show on youtube hosted by Mary Gunn. I have never created live before and it is improv so I don’t even know what I will be making until they spin the wheel. Pop over to the Craft Roulette youtube channel; you can find out what it is all about, check out old episodes and get ready to watch on Friday night. It is 6:30 MT so that’s 7:30 EST and beyond that you will have to do the math!

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Gel print backgrounds

Posted: June 14, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Brutus Monroe, contemporary, gel press, perfumed | Tags: , , , , , | 8 Comments

I have had my gel plate out recently and I am addicted. It is what happens when I get it out. Gel printing can be frustrating because some of the prints are a whole lot of nothing much while others are full of pattern, texture and colour. I never know whether the next print will be the former or the latter so I keep on printing. I have a stack of prints sitting around and I decided it was time to cut a few up to make cards. I added some stamping and die-cuts.

This first card is my favourite but I must be honest with you, it isn’t a gel print. It is the scrap paper I cleaned the brayer on! I love how pretty the colours and blends are but I’m a bit miffed that my clean up page was prettier than many of my prints!

To turn it into a card I stamped and embossed the PB ‘contemporary’ stamp in white and added the hello, cut with the PB ‘thanks & hello’

Same deal with this background but embossed with gold and adorned with the PB ‘jumbo joy’ die.

I’m glad to add another card to my very small Christmas card stack. My resolution to add to it every month seems to be a bit off and on.

This background is a recent print and includes a fun thread printing technique I saw on Birgit Koopsen’s instagram. She recently completed a challenge gel printing every day in May. She generously shared all the techniques she tried.

I added flowers from the PB ‘perfumed’ set and a sentiment in white embossing powder.

I guess the title of this post was a bit inaccurate as only one of these cards features a gel print background! Watching beauty emerge when gel printing is so much fun. To glance over at my brayer clean up sheet and realise I have to save it because it looks like a pastel check table cloth is a bonus. To see the pale ghosts of stencils turn up on third or fourth prints also amazes me.

I did not participate in Birgit’s recent challenge as I was busy busy launching the new online Floral Faves class but now the gel plate is out I am challenging myself to post something gel-print related every day this week. See you tomorrow.

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3D Tulips

Posted: June 11, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Paper Rose, so extra supporting sentiments, tulips 3D | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

My embossing folder collection has grown a bit more this week. I ordered a couple from Paper Rose Studio and tried out the Tulips 3D folder today. After a few experiments with watercolour paper and neenah cardstock I used the same technique on both these cards with different inks.

The green panel above was done with neenah solar white cardstock and the pink below is watercolour paper. As I didn’t end up adding more than a spritz of water the effect is the same on both panels. I embossed the cardstock then used blending brushes to add Catherine Pooler spruce ink to the card above and bellini to the card below. For added detail and shimmer I used delicata inks direct to the panel, shimmer white over the spruce and rose gold over the bellini.

To complete the cards I added tulip diecuts from Penny Black (promise me II) and sentiment strips from Paper Rose Studio. I have seen printed sentiment strips from a few companies now and decided to try these. They are printed on slightly glossy cardstock and are designed to pair with die-cut words. There are several copies of each sheet of words or phrases so if I botch the cutting I can try again.

I know tulip season is over but I had to give this folder a try. I also know tulips don’t come in green but I think the spruce one is my favourite of the two.

I appreciated all the suggestions and comments about the alcohol ink panels. I am considering a few of the ideas and will do a video as requested as soon as possible. Thank you for taking the time to enter the discussion; I love hearing from you and gathering new ideas.

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Alcohol ink experiments

Posted: June 9, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink | Tags: | 23 Comments

I’ve taken a bit of time in the last week to experiment with some neglected mediums in my workroom. It has been both enjoyable and challenging as I try to remember process and techniques I haven’t tried in a while. These three alcohol ink panels used different combinations of turquoise, eggplant, currant and gilded alloy inks. The panels are larger than my usual card size, more than double at 6″x 9″ and I’m wondering how to use them.

I could cut them up and put them on card bases but I thought I would ask you what you for ideas. They would probably make nice journal or notebook covers.

I used a different type of paper for these. It is made by Nara, I ordered from Amazon just to see what it was like. It was very similar to yupo or grafix white craft plastic which I have used in the past. To create the patterns I used copious amounts of isopropyl alcohol and a hand ink blower to move the ink forwards and backwards creating dried edges and soft diluted ‘clouds’.

If I don’t come up with any ideas right now I may end up cutting circles from the panels to make Christmas cards; the patterns make very pretty Christmas balls. Let me know what you think and if you would like to see a video of any of the above processes.

Before I go thank you so much for your enthusiastic response to the pencil coloured animals. It seems we have animal lovers as well as plant lovers around here which is wonderful. What about lovers of abstract colourful patterns?!

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Animal cards – pencil on kraft

Posted: June 7, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Cow's it going?, Lion, Pink Ink Designs, Sea Turtle, whale | Tags: , | 19 Comments

Recently I put together a set of animal themed cards as a gift for an animal lover I know. I did not realise how much I would enjoy colouring these animal images from Pink Ink Designs. I own five of these large stamp sets featuring animals and have only watercoloured them up until now. (the one not featured in today’s post is the dragon). Coloured pencil on kraft turned out to be quite effective for the beasts! I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and will always recommend them.

The artist who designs these stamps is very talented and as you can see on the whale there are some whimsical details added to the otherwise realistic image. I stamped the whale in cobalt archival ink then coloured with blue, white and black pencils before adding white dots over the top with a gel pen.

The highland cow is a beauty, no added whimsy but plenty of personality. She’s been on the blog before. I stamped the image with papertrey weathervane ink and rusty hinge distress then added colour with pencils (Faber Castell polychromos).

I don’t remember ever colouring a lion before so I had a reference photo in front of me to work out where the shadows were and where the colours of the fur changed. The stamp has a crown on the lion which I didn’t want for this card so I left it un-inked and filled the gap with more of his mane.

The image is stamped in Papertrey ‘classic kraft’ ink and all the colouring is once again pencil. As I worked on these animals I saw again and again the impact of white pencil highlights.

The turtle has also been on the blog before, in watercolour and pearlescent paint. As with the other animals she looks good in pencil on kraft. She has plenty of whimsy in her patchwork shell. Choosing dark blue for her shell was not so realistic but her underbody and fins were inspired by a photo I found.

I’m sure you are wondering what is next for these amazing animal stamps ( or maybe you’re saying enough already, where are the flowers and trees?!) I think each of these animals deserves it’s own art journal feature at the very least, so yes, they’ll be back.

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2021 BuJo – June theme

Posted: June 4, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Bullet Journal, delight, Dingbat notebooks, Penny Black | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

New month, new bullet journal theme. I chose the PB delight stamp because it is just that, delightful. I also tried colouring with markers, just colouring no water blending! The journal pages are very smooth and a decent weight but nothing like watercolour paper so I’ve been hesitant to do much blending with water. I used Staedtler brush pens which are water-based ink and coloured the flowers and leaves as minimally as possible.

The red tended to go through the paper a bit but only where I had layered ink over ink. I stamped the image first in Gina K obsidian amalgam ink which doesn’t bleed when water based ink touches it. Stamping without a stamp positioner is not something I do very often any more, it was a bit nerve wracking but it worked ok. I didn’t put the stamp on an acrylic block, I just pressed it down with my hand, that way I could apply pressure to the whole stamp bit by bit.

For the wish & to do list I just stamped in Papertrey ‘new leaf’ ink and repeated the butterflies for list items. By the way for the first time this year I completed all items my wish & to do list in May! Of course the big item was launching the new online course but there were birthday cards made and sent on time which is rather surprising for me!

I used ‘new leaf’ ink again on the calendar page along with a pilot fineliner for the grid, a micron pen for the days of the week and staedtler brush pens for the shadows over the letters.

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If you have a garden…

Posted: May 31, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Art Journal, Darkroom Door, Hand lettered, Papertrey Inks, scratches, Wildflowers Vol 2, you are everything | Tags: , , , , , | 8 Comments

The rest of the quote says, ‘… and a library you have everything you need.’ My art journal is pretty much all book or flower related pages; I guess there is room for a new inspiration. Currently with a garden that is looking promising and an online course newly launched you could say flowers are on my mind.

The background for this page was created months ago when I was making subtle backgrounds for a few cards. Instead of swiping a whole panel through waterbased inks I was inking a piece of acetate then spritzing it and swiping it on a stamped panel. I opened a spread in the art journal and swiped the acetate across the pages a few times to leave some ink there. I don’t remember the exact colours but the smooshed ink covered the lower half of the pages in blue, green, yellow and pale orange. Last week I pulled it out again and turned the page into a messy garden.

As I said the lower half of the pages is smooshed ink. The upper half is broken china distress inks applied with a blending brush. The flowers are a mix of silhouette stamps from Darkroom Door’s ‘you are everything’ and ‘wildflowers vol 2’ sets. I inked with papertrey ink cubes, spritzed the stamp and stamped on the pages. Sometimes I blended the stamped ink, other times not. To make the blue flowers stand out a bit more I painted blue gouache paint over the stamping. The gouache works well on the journal pages so you will probably see more.

Once all the flowers were added I stamped the DD ‘scratches’ background stamp in black on the lower section of the page and added black and white splatter all over. I added the quote with a black gel pen. If you are in my Floral Faves online class you might this was inspired by one of the projects in lesson 3.

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Daisy Sunshine

Posted: May 28, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: dancing daisies, Penny Black | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

Last week I asked what your favourite floral stamp was and several people mentioned PB ‘dancing daisies‘. That was all the motivation I needed to get it inked up. I used the same technique for today’s card as I did for a recent lilac card. I inked the stamp with three ink colours (listed below), spritzed and stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. Without re-inking I spritzed the stamp again and stamped another print then another spritz, another pale watery print. I dried the panel a little then dipped it in a bucket of water. The result was the background you see in pale colours.

I made sure the panel was totally dry before putting it in a stamp positioner to do a bold focal print. I used the same colours berry sorbet for petals, orange zest for centre and prairie grass for leaves and stems. I stamped a second time adding aged mahogany shadows on the flower centre and abandoned coral definition on the petals. I did some blending with a paint brush but not on all the stamping.

I finished the panel with a sentiment from PB ‘thinking of you’ in acorn versafine clair ink. I’m glad to have been reminded about dancing daisies; it’s a lovely stamp which I’ve used a few times over the years.

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One colour floral

Posted: May 26, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Catherine Pooler inks, Penny Black, thriving | Tags: , | 5 Comments

I know I’ve been talking a lot about FLORAL FAVES, my new online class, but today’s post is not all about a favourite stamp or a favourite technique. Today the star is my favourite colour. I am team blue all the way! Some might consider this particular blue a bit sneaky because it dilutes to pink and purple tones but I just consider it clever. The way this design turned out with overlapping flowers in shades of blue reminds me of a piece of clothing my mother had when I was very young, perhaps a skirt. My mother was definitely team blue as well!

Juniper Mist ink from Catherine Pooler is one of those magical inks that separates into several different colours. It might not be quite as magical as Memento northern pine, but it’s definitely up there.

Using a stamp from the transparent PB set ‘thriving’, I stamped what might be a lilac several times on hot pressed watercolour paper with juniper mist and painted each flower and leaf with water. I didn’t spend long on the painting so it’s a little messy but that’s the style for this one. As I painted I varied the amount of water I blended with, added extra ink for some flowers and dabbed other ones. Dabbing away wet ink when using juniper mist leaves a pink print.

I’m keeping it floral here on the blog for a while longer to celebrate the launch of my new online class FLORAL FAVES. Thank you to everyone who has joined already. The lesson content is all available now so dive in!

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