Gelli printing and Bible Art Journaling - by Sarah Anderson

Gelli plates have been popular in the art journaling community for a long while now.  They are described by the manufacturers as

"Our Gel Printing Plate looks and feels like gelatin, but is durable, reusable and stores at room temperature. It's easy to clean and always ready for printing. Monoprinting on a Gelli plate is simple and fun. The gratification is immediate, and the prints are too cool!"  

http://www.gelliarts.com/

 And when they say fun, it really is!!  A playtime session with a gelli plate, building up a stash of colourful papers, is a great way to de-stress.

They are fabulous to use with deli paper (which I mentioned in my last blog post) so I thought I'd do a step by step for you.

Place a couple of small (5p piece size) blobs of acrylic paint on your gelli plate.  It is always easier to add more if you need it than try and take it off when there is too much.  Spread this over the whole of your gelli plate with a brayer (this is a 10 x 8 plate but there are all different sizes).

Place a stencil over the wet paint..

..then place your deli paper over the top and rub.

The first print you get will look like this (above),

and your gelli plate will look like this (above).

Lift off the stencil and get another piece of deli paper to lay on top of the gelli plate,

which results in this print (above).  It can also nicely pull old bits of paint from your stencil, adding extra delight to your print.

Next, brayer a different colour paint onto the gelli plate, and add some different stencils,

then take one of the first prints and print over the top.

You don't have to keep to one colour on the gelli plate but can put two side by side

and continue to build up the layers

resulting in some gorgeous coloured papers.  You can make prints on a variety of papers, I just love to use deli paper in my bible.  And there are many 'how to' videos out there, especially on the gelliarts blog, if this is something you'd like to look into more.  This is a mere snippet of an idea.

Where to shop:
I buy my stencils from That's Crafty, mostly buying Crafters Workshop stencils with the occasional Stencil Girl and Artist Cellar, and from craft/stamp shows.  The stencil featured in this post is 'Deconstructed Floral Bouquet Stencil' by Traci Bautista for Stencil Girl.  I purchased mine from That's Crafty but they don't have it on their website at the moment.  Stencils are also available from Crafty Charlie, Art from the Heart, The Artistic Stamper and Clarity Stamps.  That's Crafty, The Artistic Stamper, Clarity Stamps and Lavinia Stamps all stock gelli plates, of which there are a variety of sizes and shapes.  These are just the shops I am familiar with, there will be others.  I do not receive any money or benefit from recommending them.

the Wonders of Deli Paper in your Bible - Sarah Anderson

As those of you who know me know, I am not into gesso - life's just too short!  I'm a dive in kind of person and gesso just doesn't work for me.  I'd rather just use things that don't bleed through the thin pages of my bible, or use a 'fix' when they do.  One of those is deli paper.

Deli paper is a thin, tissue paper-like paper, that is waxed on one side.  I have bought mine from Art from the Heart, Harrogate, and Amazon (just type deli paper into the search).  I was introduced to deli paper through my gelli plate, which I'll provide a step by step for in my next post, but you can just add paint with a brush or baby wipes:

Using the non-waxed side of the paper, add patches of different coloured craft acrylic paint (I buy mine in Hobbycraft) with a paintbrush.

Again with the paintbrush, add some paint to a piece of sequin waste (often available in children's 'craft kits' eg at Ryman's) then print with this onto your paper.  You can also stencil through it.

Another great way to add pattern to your page is with this plastic mesh you find in the sewing section at Hobbycraft (other stores are available!) ...

...or by printing with bits of card that you might have lying around.  Keep your eye out around the house for bits and bobs that would made for great texture eg splattering paint with an old toothbrush, printing with a cork from a wine bottle.

You'll usually find me adding paint to paper with a baby wipe so I tested this out on the deli paper too.

This time I added paint through a stencil, as well as through sequin waste.

The beauty of deli paper is that it is thin and light so glues easily to, and sits well on, bible pages.

In this margin I added some stamping on top of the deli paper demonstrated in the step by step above, as well as some lettering (from a StencilGirl stencil) and an owl I stamped and cut out.  Proverbs is full of wisdom, hence the owl, and tells us to 'listen' a lot!!

Whilst camping at New Wine I attempted to carry a pot of soya milk and my bible in the same bag - which resulted in some soggy pages.  I've fixed the front cover with some ugly duct tape (I will improve it with stickers, washi tape...) but for the inner pages, many of which ripped, I used my stash of deli paper.

It's strong, it's light ...

...and it's pretty!