Handmade Art Journal
Posted: March 9, 2023 Filed under: gel press, Handmade book | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, gel press, gel printing, Handmade book 10 Comments
A couple of weeks ago I posted photos and description of the handmade book with Coptic binding which I made as a participant in the November 5-Day challenge from the Handmade Book Club. I really like the construction and binding of this particular book so I made another one, this time with cold pressed watercolour pages and a gel printed cover.
The pages in this book are seven inches square so the covers are a little larger. When I went through my very large stash of gel prints I didn’t have two pieces large enough and matchy-matchy enough for my liking. Hard to believe I know, because my gel print collection now inhabits two large boxes. Knowing that I needed at least 9″ x 9″ prints I made a couple on rice paper especially for this journal. The pretty circle/tile pattern in the print is from a piece of embossed cardstock I have been holding onto for a very long time ‘just in case I needed it!’
I make my covers from the thick cardstock backs of watercolour paper pads. You can buy bookboard, but my stash of thick cardstock pieces is large and easily sturdy enough. I printed the cover patterns on rice paper which folds beautifully over the thick cardboard.
As you might have noticed from recent art journal posts, I’ve been creating in a 6″ x 6″ journal for my classes and at home. This one is just that little big bigger so I’m excited to get started in it.
Stay tuned to see what I put in this journal. I think it is safe to say some of the prints from those two big boxes will end up in here! Hope your day includes a book, in some shape or form.
Time Art Journal page
Posted: March 6, 2023 Filed under: 6"x 6" journal, Art Journal, Darkroom Door, diamonds, gel press, ransom alphabet, starry night, Stencils | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, gel press, gel printing 4 Comments
This journal page is unlike many of my other pages but contains some of my favourite papers and techniques. What you can’t see is the design I started underneath about a year ago. It had the look of a watercolour sunset but everytime I flipped to that page I didn’t know what to do with it; eventually I covered it up completely.
This is the same as the 6″x6″ watercolour paper journal I use in my Art Journal Adventure workshops. The clock and the starry sky background are gel prints. I did them quite a while ago but because of their size I didn’t know how to use them. The clock was 7″ across before I cut it. It’s an image transfer from a Tiffany’s catalog which arrived at my house for no reason. I don’t have anything from Tiffany’s but I can tell you the images in that catalog are perfect for gel print image transfers! The starry sky was also a large print made with large stencils from Darkroom Door. I could have cut up the panel for cards but I wanted to keep it together if possible. I did end up tearing it into two pieces before gluing it to the page. The galaxy type strip from left to right covers the area where the two pieces meet.
The theme of time is not meant to bully me into being busy, more to remind me that time is precious and why not use it wisely. I printed the letters for the phrase on the rice paper leftovers from the cut out clock using the Darkroom Door ransom alphabet set. That little definition in the corner is from a little palm sized dictionary bought second hand for collage.
The splatter on the black gesso strip is finetec pearlescent paints which tie in with the gold metallic printing on the star gel print. Considering the double page was uninspiring for so long, I’m quite happy with how it turned out.
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Cosy Cup of Cocoa
Posted: January 6, 2023 Filed under: Alcohol Ink, cocoa and cookies, framed flowers stencil, gel press, Penny Black, The Crafter's Workshop | Tags: Echidna Studios, gel press, gel printing, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Alcohol Ink, Ranger archival inks 5 Comments
‘Tis the season for sitting by the fire, drinking hot chocolate and staying cosy. Since I last posted we have had snow, rain, ice and more snow! To create today’s card I paired a watercoloured Echidna Studios image with a alcohol ink gel print. I printed the cup from the ‘cocoa and cookies‘ digital stamp set on hot pressed watercolour paper then painted it with Sennelier watercolour paints.
I added a Penny Black sentiment then framed it with a gel printed panel. It may seem like an odd combo of images but I like the way the colours worked together and it looked a little like a floral tablecloth underneath my cup image. I have only recently started using alcohol inks on my gel plate and discovered how the highly pigmented alcohol inks sometimes give me three or four prints from the one design. This pale one was either the second or third print pulled with paint after creating a colourful design on the plate with a stencil.
Hope you are staying cosy in the northern hemisphere or refreshed in the south. It is a strange thing to now celebrate my wedding anniversary and birthday in the bleak mid winter even though I was born and married in the height of summer! This weekend my husband and I are celebrating 33 years!
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Chipboard Decorations
Posted: December 9, 2022 Filed under: chipboard, christmas ornaments, gel press, grafix, Sizzix, Tutorial | Tags: collage, gel press, gel printing, grafix, Tutorial 3 Comments
I have been creating collage panels with my many gel prints lately, most for Christmas cards. The striped and patchworked collages looked so pretty I decided to try the process on Grafix chipboard.
I collaged on both sides and love the way they turned out. I made a video of the process then made more chipboard decorations in different colours.
I used a serious chipboard cutting die to cut the ornaments. It is from Sizzix and I was pleased to see how clean the cuts were. If you have a digital cutting machine you would be able to cut the chipboard into any number of shapes.
After cutting out the shapes I used a gold gel pen to add stitching lines and gold paint to coat the edges. A crop-a-dile made quick work of punching holes so I could add ribbon to the shapes.
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Just one more chapter
Posted: December 2, 2022 Filed under: book spines, Darkroom Door, gel press | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, gel press, gel printing, grafix, Ranger Distress inks 7 Comments
Just one more bookish card? Of course not; there will always be more bookish cards, especially as Darkroom Door keeps creating more bookish stamps! Today’s card, which of course can be sent to a fellow reader on any occasion, features the new ‘reading’ sentiment strip as a background wallpaper and as the sentiment. Darkroom Door has a range of sentiment strips each containing 9-10 sentiments. I could cut them up into individual stamps but I have kept them all as strips so I can stamp them all at once if I want to. I did so on today’s card to create a background in rusty hinge distress ink on watercolour paper. I painted water over the top of the stamping to blur it but you can still read most of the bookish mantras.
I also used the DD stamp ‘book spines’ to create my line up of books. I stamped it on three different gel prints and embossed each one in a different metallic ink. I cut up all the prints then rearranged the books to have green, blue, yellow and brown books across the shelf. Even though I chose random gel prints I love the way the texture of plastic lids and packaging has become aged leather on the book spines.
After attaching my books to the background I stamped just one phrase from the sentiment strip by masking above and below the words then added it to the card. A little shading along the top of the books give a bit of dimension.
This turned out to be the perfect card for today because I have been part of the Coptic Challenge at ‘The Handmade Book Club‘ this week. Today is the last day of instruction which covers sewing the book together. When I have completed my book I will post it on the blog. It is the second time I have participated in the five day challenge; both experiences have been very enjoyable and the instruction is fabulous.
So, read one more chapter and have a great weekend.
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Christmas Elegance
Posted: November 18, 2022 Filed under: christmas elegance, gel press, Penny Black | Tags: gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
You might recognise the type of background I used for today’s card. It is one of my gel printing clean up sheets. I think this one looks a bit like plaid. I used the Penny Black ‘Christmas elegance’ die to cut the tree from the panel and splattered with gold paint.
I attached the die cut panel to an embossed piece of white cardstock, also plaid. The sentiment is a little tricky to see; I think it might have been better to stamp it in navy ink rather than emboss those tiny words. All in all the card is simple and elegant and I like that combination!
By the way I have updated the classes page with my final in-person class for the year. I wish I could tell you the new online class is also ready! I’m working on it!
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Echinacea Journal Page
Posted: August 11, 2022 Filed under: Art Journal, Finetec paints, gel press, Mixed Media | Tags: Art Journal, collage, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, gel printing 10 Comments
I have echinacea or cone flowers growing happily in my garden and now happily in my almost finished 6″x 6″ art journal. A friend recently gave me a great big dictionary for cutting up so I ripped out the ‘book’ page and the ‘journal’ page and used them to cover the whole double page spread before I did anything else.
There were a few words I didn’t want covered up so when I was ripping then gluing I took care to keep them exposed. The word ‘boomerang’ appeared so I didn’t cover that one up even though it has nothing to do with this journal page. I am an Aussie after all. ‘Bookish, bookmark, bookshelf, bookworm, book-club and bookend are all visible, some of them highlighted. Somewhere in the gluing I lost the word ‘journal’ but ‘journey’ is still there.
I used a black all pencil to darken the edges of the torn pieces and softened it with water. I also added white gesso over the top to mute the background a bit. I should have done those two steps in the opposite order so the gesso didn’t reactivate the pencil. I blended some tea dye or possibly antique linen ink around the edges and then wished I hadn’t, after all I don’t have to vintagefy everything!
I cut the petals, cone, and green bits from different gel prints using a photo I’d printed out to guide me with the shape. After everything was glued down I used black, white and gold gel pens to add details and metallic paints on the cone details as well. I added white and gold splatter and a mix of washi tape and gel print circles dotted around the the place.
Hope you are surrounded by books and flowers…if you like them as much as I do!
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Gardens on gel prints
Posted: August 2, 2022 Filed under: Darkroom Door, fine flowers vol 2, gel press, mesh, Nature Walk, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing 7 Comments
Another gel print post? Yes indeed, and no apologies. If you have tried gel printing you will know it is a little addictive. Today’s post features cards stamped with Darkroom Door flowers. Some are stamped on clean up sheets, others on gel prints. A clean up sheet is thick drawing paper I keep at the right of my gel plate for rolling excess ink off my brayer. As you can see in the panels above and below I can end up with some very colourful sheets.
I stamped flowers from the DD set’ ‘fine flowers vol 2” and the ‘mesh’ texture stamp in Ciao Bella Oceania ink. The ink is a pigment ink which stamps beautifully on gel prints and dries quickly so I don’t end up smudging it.
This deep red background is also a clean up panel. I am always excited to see landscapes or skies appear in an abstract print or clean up sheet. Those two strips of white added a hint of clouds to a very bold sunset! I stamped the silhouette flowers from the DD set, wildflowers vol 2.
The last two cards are made from gel printed panels not clean up sheets but are very distressed. The print I pulled and cut up to make a couple of garden cards include plenty of distressed texture from a printing session including a little bit of text.
There was some blue in the print so I chose a co-ordinating ink to add the large grassy stamp from the DD ‘nature walk’ set. I’ve said it before it is a favourite set which I reach for again and again. I think I used versafine clair paradise ink.
I was crafting with a friend when I made these two cards and she had a tiny butterfly punch so the card below features a few co-ordinating butterflies. I haven’t seen many butterflies in my garden this year but there have been plenty of bees in the day and fireflies at night.
None of these cards have sentiments on them at this stage, I like to have blank cards on hand to use for any occasion. Thanks for dropping by today; I know it’s been quiet around here lately. I plan to be back soon with more projects and inspiration.
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Dancing on gel prints
Posted: July 21, 2022 Filed under: butterfly dance, Dies, Paper Rose, Penny Black, shall we dance | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 8 Comments
I have a couple more cards incorporating gel prints today. This first one is made with a clean up sheet; maybe you can recognise the criss cross of brayer marks on the paper. When I stamped the PB ‘butterfly garden’ stamp over the background it was a bit too delicate to show up well. Highlighting petals and wings with a white gel pen worked to keep the design subtle but still noticeable.
I cut the gel print to fill the card front and added a sentiment from the Paper Rose Studio ‘so extra’ sentiment strips.
The gel print below has a delicate blue pattern over bronze made when the paint separates on the gel plate before you get a chance to take a print. I used a bronze print to pull the blue paint which had separated evenly over the whole plate. You can’t tell from the photo but the bronze has a metallic sheen to it.
I cut flowers from navy cardstock using the Penny Black ‘shall we dance’ die to complete a card I can use for any occasion.
The Penny Black sale continues at The Foiled Fox so if you have a wish list, take a look.
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Home is… journal page
Posted: June 17, 2022 Filed under: alphabet medley, Art Journal, Darkroom Door, gel press, polka dot stencil, remington lowercase alphabet | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, gel press, gel printing 5 Comments
The shenanigans continue in my Art Journal Adventures workshops. Last month the theme was collage & texture and the range of pages was amazing. We all chose different papers, colours and focal images but followed a similar method to put them together.
For this spread I relied heavily on my growing collection of gel prints. The little cottage picture is from a greeting card and I used it as a starting point when settling on colours. All the papers you can see are gel prints I made except for one kraft scrap down the bottom with text stamped on it. I added gesso as well as texture using modeling paste through the Ciao Bella patchwork stencil.
During each session of the class it was definitely a treat to walk around and be inspired by the ideas coming to life on all the pages. Some participants had their own stash of gel prints to draw from, others used some of mine. It was fun to see my prints pop up on other people’s pages. I loved it!
This week we are working on Tea and Coffee themed pages and next month it will be texture & movement. If you are close by and haven’t tried gel printing, I’m teaching another introductory class on July 9.
The sweet cottage with sheep at the gate looks nothing like my house! I do grow morning glory but that is about the only similarity. Home is definitely where my people are which means I have two homes very far apart. Although very much at home in Canada I claim Australia as home too, how could I not, some of my favourite people are there!
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Heather Telford 