Alcohol Ink Gel Print

Posted: June 19, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, artsy stems, gel press, little lowercase letters, My Favorite Things, Tim Holtz | Tags: gel press, gel printing, My Favorite Things, Ranger Alcohol Ink, Tim Holtz | 3 Comments

Last Monday I posted a faux batik look created on the gel plate. Today’s card is not faux alcohol ink; I did create a design on the gel plate with alcohol inks then picked it up with acrylic paint. Alcohol inks dry quite quickly so they are fun to fiddle with on a gel plate.

I can’t remember exactly which inks I used but I imagine there was a blue and yellow alcohol ink involved and perhaps ‘stream’ which is a deep teal colour. I sprinkled them on the gel plate, added some isopropyl alcohol to get the colours moving and then used a homemade stamp to add the flower shapes. In my online gel printing course I have a whole lesson about making and using homemade stamps with acrylic paints. Using them with alcohol inks is also an option as shown on this card. The speckled look over the panel is from adding a spritz of isopropyl alcohol to the plate before letting it dry.

I pulled the print with gold acrylic paint which has given the whole panel a goldish tint and in real life a bit of shine and shimmer. To finish the card I added a die-cut flower and letters in a co-ordinating colour. The letters were cut with MFT ‘little lowercase letters’ which might not be available anymore but I have linked to a similar set.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Batik on the Gel Press

Posted: June 12, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: gel press, leaves and lines, Tutorial | Tags: Echidna Studios, gel press, gel printing | 4 Comments

Just because my new online class is published doesn’t mean the gel plates have been put away. I am always thinking up new ideas to try on the gel plate and the problem is finding the time to experiment. I sat down last week and filmed myself while gel printing with some stencils. This large batik-like panel is one of the prints I made.

The stencil is one I designed myself called ‘leaves and lines‘. I cut it out of grafix matte durar-lar on the cricut. The beauty of a digital cutting file and cutter is the same design can be cut in different sizes. For the print above I used a 9″ x 11″ gel plate and the stencil was slightly smaller than the plate. Some of you might remember that I have a new youtube channel as I lost my old one. It has a mix of older (from the archives) videos and new ones (freshly filmed). It has been a bit quiet lately but thanks to all who have visited. Please spread the word so I can build the community back up.

The crackly effect that makes the design look a bit batik-y is from the tissue I used to lift paint around the stencil. I don’t yet have a plan for this large print but I am thinking it would make a nice book cover.

The digital cutting file is available in Echidna Studios etsy store and is printable as well if you wanted to print it instead of cut it. I have cut it twice but only used the larger of the two stencils so far. You can see them in the photo below. The smaller one is shinier as it is pristine and cut from Grafix stencil film (slightly heavier than matte dura-lar) The one of the right was used in the video and is blue from paint stain. If you are interested in more gel printing techniques with stencils or just more gel printing techniques I’d love you to check out ‘Gel Print Journey‘ my new self paced online course.

I haven’t done any real batik lately but I did quite a bit in high school and of course had a long batik wrap around skirt! Anyone else remember that look? Not surprisingly mine was white and blue just like today’s gel print.

Gel Print Journey

Posted: May 31, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Elizabeth Craft Designs, florals 13, gel press, online class, pretty plaid, Spellbinders | Tags: Classes, gel press, gel printing, online class, video | 4 Comments

As I have mentioned a few times lately I have a new online class available. It’s called Gel Print Journey. I added the promo on Youtube today and thought I would share it here with you my blog readers as well. It is a class for both beginners and enthusiasts (and those who like me, tried it once and took a while to try it again). The card shown above is just one of the projects I made after a gel printing session. I grabbed the red print from the embossing folders lesson and the green print from one of the stencils lessons and die-cut all my elements to make a birthday card. Although there are project ideas at the end of the class the focus of the lessons is all gel printing. I just thought I would share one of the projects with you today because it is a bright happy card!

If you haven’t tried gel printing at all, GASP, this class will take you through the basics and provide you with oodles of textures and techniques to try. If you have tried gel printing I am sure you will enjoy putting your dies, stencils, embossing folders, recycling and plants to work to create one of a kind prints.

I added the red petals and green leaves to an embossed white background to keep them looking fresh and bright. There are little prills in the centres and a sentiment from Paper Rose studio.

As blog readers you have just one more day to use the TEAMBLOG10 discount code but if you read this after May has ended just pop over to youtube to see the code I shared over there. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. I will continue to share gel printed cards and projects here on the blog and have some upcoming videos on youtube as well.

Have a great day!

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Mushrooms & Pods

Posted: May 23, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes, Darkroom Door, fairy toadstool, gel press, Lavinia, mini meadow mushroom, online class, pods stencil, woodland fern | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, Lavinia, online class | 6 Comments

I often combine my gel prints with stamping and on this card there is a bit of brand matchy-matchy which really works for a whimsical look. The print is a ghost print made while filming my new class Gel Print Journey. There is a surprising amount of paint and pattern on this ghost print; sometimes they are a lot more ghostly!

The gel print was made with the Lavinia stencil ‘pods’. Last week when stamping with a friend I was able to pair the background with some Lavinia stamps. I don’t own any…yet but I did enjoy the fun of arranging little scenes with their pretty silhouettes.

If you are not familiar with the world of ghost prints or stencil prints or even gel printing, check out my new online course. The TEAMBLOG10 discount is available until the end of May so now is a great time to join me.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox, Ecstasy Crafts* & Scrap n Stamp)

*if you visit the Lavinia products at Ecstasy Crafts make sure you use the heathertecs10 discount code at check out

Gel Printing with the Strands stencil

Posted: May 18, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes, Dies, Echidna Studios, Flutters, gel press, online class, Penny Black, rustic birdhouse, strands | Tags: Echidna Studios, gel press, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 4 Comments

A stencil gel print for you today. I created this distressed print on a large gel plate so I could pick up a card front and an envelope print at the same time. If you don’t have a large plate you could just use the same paint colours and stencil on a second print. Just in case you didn’t catch my news yesterday, my new online course Gel Print Journey is now available! (And there is a discount for blog readers TEAMBLOG10)

The stencil is called ‘strands’ and it is a digital design I created and have made available in the Echidna Studios etsy store. The bold print shown on the card above was made with copper, burgandy and purple paint so I chose a dark burgandy cardstock to cut dragonfly elements and a sentiment strip. Printing directly on the envelope is a easy way to co-ordinate with your card and I placed a sticker on the white envelope before printing to preserve white space for the address. I think I might make a video of this process because it’s quick and effective, a combination I like.

The pattern on the second card is very muted because it is a ghost print, the leftovers on the plate after I pulled the one above. I cover this technique in my new online class using a range of different stencils and colour combinations.

Even though ghost prints are often patchy I like using them for collage or backgrounds as I have here. The line between cream and grey ended up looking like a path or lawn and I just like the unique grungy texture.

The dies and stamps I used to finish the cards are all Penny Black, those dragonflies on the first card are some of the first dies I ever got and they’re still a favourite.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & ScrapNStamp)

Gel Plate Plant Prints

Posted: May 16, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes, gel press, online class | Tags: Classes, gel press, gel printing, online class | 6 Comments

I have a few more plant gel prints to share with you. I put these ones together as a gift a while ago but saved this post to co-ordinate with the launch of my new online class Gel Print Journey. This class has been in the works for a while so I am excited to finally share it with you. It is an introductory class covering printing with acrylic paints and includes loads of techniques, hours of video instruction and a few inspiration galleries at the end so you can see what I do with some of the prints. (there is a discount code at the end of this post)

In the new class three of the lessons cover leaf, grass and feather prints teaching the techniques used to make the cards in today’s post. For the card above I used one large leaf but often I use a mix of leaves, grasses and when available, flowers.

Because I made all these prints with a 6″x6″ gel plate I was able to cover the card front and save a strip to add to the edge of the envelope. I used double sided adhesive to add these prints to my card fronts but a tape runner or gluestick would also do the job.

As you can see in the print above ferns print very well. I rolled red paint on my plate, pressed a fern frond and a flower into the paint, removed paint all around the elements with tissue paper then pulled the remaining print with gold paint. So much fun! Now that I have plants growing again in my garden I will be creating a new pile of nature prints.

I promised to let you know when my class launched and because my blog readers are such an encouragement to me feel free to use the discount code TEAMBLOG10 for a 10% discount when you register.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Printed & Stamped

Posted: May 8, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Darkroom Door, French Script, Gazette, gel press, pocket watch, tickets, Wildflowers Vol 1 | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing | 13 Comments

Now the grass has turned green I am looking forward to gel printing with fresh plants again. I have used some dried ones over the winter and also some I purchased but nothing beats pulling a few grasses, leaves or flowers from the yard to print immediately. On the card above and below I pressed grasses into blue paint on a gel plate, removed the surrounding paint with paper then picked up the whole print with white and yellow.

To turn the printed panel into a card I added stamping with Darkroom Door stamps in a collage style with a dark blue ink and attached the paper print to the card base with double sided adhesive sheets.

I used the same process to create another collage card adding stamping over a feather gel print. The Darkroom Door fine detail stamps once again add to the grungy printed background.

I left the cards blank to be used for any occasion. As you can see in both cards, the gel print isn’t the main feature, nor is the stamping; it’s the combination of grungy background and stamped elements that make these work for me. Depending on the size of the gel printed sheet it is usually possible to add a co-ordinating strip of the print to the envelope as well.

There are lessons on gel printing with grasses and feathers in my soon to be released online Gel Printing Journey class; I can’t wait to invite you in!

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox, Scrap n Stamp & Ecstasy Crafts)

Gel Print Mandala Thank You Card

Posted: May 3, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: beaded mandala, Deco Frame, Dies, gel press, Penny Black, The Crafters Workshop | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, The Crafter's Workshop | 3 Comments

Gel printing continues to entice and delight me. This brown and burgandy print was done with a mandala mask from The Crafter’s Workshop; it’s called ‘beaded mandala’.

This print is a good example of the bonuses you pick up when you don’t start with a perfectly clean gel plate. If you look closely you can see some tiny remnants of text from an image transfer as well as the more obvious grey leftovers. I chose burgandy for the stacked PB diecut ‘thank you’ because there are some patches that look more burgandy than brown.

This technique with stencils is one of my favourites and is included in my upcoming online class Gel Print Journey. I am excited to be talking about it again despite the months that have passed since I began. I am back on it and excited to release it soon!

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Darkroom Door Eyes

Posted: April 14, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Art Journal, Darkroom Door, eyes, Flower garden, French Script, gel press, Handmade book, made for you, spanish tiles, starry night, Stencils, you are everything | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, gel press, gel printing | 4 Comments

Are you surprised to see a face on one of my projects? This journal page spread was definitely outside my comfort zone but I am very happy I persevered and brought it to completion. The page began with the new ‘Eyes’ stamp set from Darkroom Door and a pile of gel prints. There are eight pairs of eyes in the set in a couple of different sizes. I chose to stamp the eyes on a pale gel print done with oxide inks and the DD background stamp ‘flower garden’. To help me draw the rest of the face around the eyes I found a magazine face with similar size eyes and that gave me the right scale and placement as I completed the head and features.

Although I like the idea of adding hair I decided to do that on a future project and used some textured wrapping from a bunch of flowers instead. The bright pink helped me choose other gel prints to complete the background collage. You might not see them all but DD background stamps and stencils are featured on most of the torn collage pieces.

I embossed the Spanish tiles background stamp on a bright pink gel print, tore it up for collage and attached a strip to cardstock so I could cut earrings. I also used gold embossing when adding the words. I alternated phrases from the DD ‘you are everything’ set with the new DD ‘made for you’ set.

I worked in my new handmade journal which is 7″x7″. Once I had the facial features pencilled in I went over them with marker then added shading with coloured pencils. I also stenciled some stars over the collage and embossed in gold to give the whole spread more unity. The pink turban was a bit of a challenge which ended up looking a bit more like a swim cap than a turban but you get the general idea don’t you?

I will be using the eyes again both to practice drawing faces and as elements in future journal pages. I hope you are enjoying seeing the new stamps from Darkroom Door; they are always full of the artistic magic and clever ideas of Rachel Greig.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Made for You

Posted: April 12, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, made for you, Nature Walk, Wildflowers Vol 1 | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing | 8 Comments

Some stamps old, some stamps new and some cardstock blue is the approach I took with these sweet new label stamps. I pulled out a textured gel print on rice paper and stamped flowers from a couple of favourite floral sets from Darkroom Door.

I used Ciao Bella chiascuro ink pads, the colours are deep but muted and worked beautifully with the paint colours in the gel print. Because rice paper is somewhat transparent I adhered the panel to a piece of aqua cardstock which made the print look bluer. I used the same cardstock to stamp the two phrases from the new DD ‘made for you’ set of label stamps.

The original gel print was done on a 9″x11″ gel plate so there was enough print for two cards and some extra strips on the envelope flaps

I think I have made cards a bit like this before. I love pairing DD silhouette flowers with gel prints. When I think about it, this gel print didn’t ‘work’ as far as the technique was concerned. I was using a wallpaper sample which textured swirls on it and they did not appear at all, I just got the scaly texture you can almost see. That’s the beauty of gel printing. Just because they don’t do what you expect doesn’t mean they are not usable.

The label stamps I’ve used as sentiments were probably designed to go on handmade items such as sewing or perhaps the back of a card. I decided they worked just as well as a message on the front of a card ready to send to someone dear to me.