Friday 13 February 2015

A lovely surprise.

In this morning's post I received this beautiful initial H painted by my bloggy friend Gina Ferrari who has just taken a course in egg tempera painting.  My photo doesn't do it justice - the light picks up the gold paint in the central area beautifully and it comes alive.  Thankyou so much Gina - I hardly like to follow it with these paltry printing efforts.

I have at last tried out my Gelli plate and although I enjoyed  myself, I can't say I'm very pleased with the results.   I found it hard to control the texture of the paint and will have another go using acrylics from tubes.  I think the paint I used for these was a little too wet.
I experimented with various rubber stamps and moulding mats which are quite good once you have found those that give the clearest images.
Above, I tried using the 6"square plate to fill a sheet of A4 paper.  I sprayed it with a coppery craft ink but am not sure it has improved it, especially as the ink tended to come out in blobs rather than a fine mist.
 I cut out flower shapes with a couple of paper punches and kept the strips which I used here as stencils.   I like the bottom right sample best where the edges of the strip are broken up.  I think next time I will use found objects to create the patterns and maybe try a little doodling to make my designs more personal.

 I had been hoping to find some way of using this technique to make a lining for my bird book but in the end I decided that I wanted something fairly simple so drew a faint diagonal grid on a piece of fabric ironed onto freezer paper to stabilise it, and then drew the stylised leaves making a repeat pattern.

I stuck it down to the inside of the cover which you have already seen, and finished the edges off with buttonhole stitch.
As I had no soft fabric in which to hide the ends when I came to the end of a length of thread, I left 2 or 3 inches and tied a new length in, which gave me enough thread to hang beads in 3 or 4 places round the border of the cover.


There are two more beaded bits which loaded and then disappeared and I can't get them to load again.  However, you get the idea.   I have even managed to used some of my best beads.   I seem to have been saving them for something and thought it was about time they came out of hiding.























8 comments:

Heather said...

I daren't try to correct my error on this post. I don't know what happened though I seem to have recovered one photo twice. My computer skills are just about as good as those with the Gelli plate!

Gina said...

Thank you Heather. It was my pleasure. Nothing wrong with your Gelli prints. I always find that it is a hit or miss process and you have to print a lot of duff papers to get one or two gems.

sharon young said...

I think your Gelli prints have worked well, I like the fact that you've created a textural feel to them. I've been tempted by this method of printing for a while but still not got around to getting the stuff to do it.
I really like your inside cover pattern, it's the perfect match for your pages.
Gina's card looks beautiful, I've just been reading her post and admiring all her pieces.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lucky you with the card.
I think you are going great guns with your stuff. One of the things I like about your work Heather is that you are always ready to try new stuff and stick with it until you get it how you want it to look. Great/

Carol Q said...

your book is looking beautiful Heather. love the stitching and beads - really bringing it all together . clever Gina hey? I agree with her comment about Gelli prints - plenty go in the bin. there are lots of Youtube videos to help you if you need inspiration.

The Bug said...

Just gorgeous!

Ro Bruhn said...

Your prints are fine Heather, you can always overprint in another colour. Your paint needs to be about the same consistency of runny cream. Tube paints, unless you get cheap ones, are usually too thick and need diluting with flow medium. Don't apply too much paint. Bubble wrap, string, lace fabric, corrugated cardboard etc all make good stamps for mark making. Happy printing.

Robin Mac said...

Your book is really fabulous Heather, I love the inside papers, also the way you have used the beads.
I always found gelli printing a hit or miss affair, I rather like the photos you have published of your efforts - and as Ro said, you can always overprint them! Cheers.