Making Waves with a GelpressPlate.

Making Waves with a GelpressPlate.

Hi there!
Thanks for popping in.
Thursday’s blog is always blue, right? Well I thought I would step by step that calamity of a demo from TV on Sunday.
You know the one – when the paint stuck to the Gelplate and the print wouldn’t shift. 
Ah well. It happens to the best of us! And what can you do on LIVE TV except keep on truckin??
I did figure out something though – alcohol ink definitely dries the Gel Plate out! I had used the actual rogue plate when I was playing with alcohol ink the week before. I had conditioned it with some baby oil, but clearly not enough.  Silly me for not cracking open a new plate for a TV show. But at least YOU know now! Once I lubricated the same plate with more oil when I got home, it was fine, but astringent alcohol inks deffo suck the juice out of the Gelli!
So let’s look again at the process….
Stamp the lovely yacht stamp into the centre of a piece of stencil card before you begin. Use Black Archival. 
Spread some beige (buff) acrylic paint over the Gelplate with a brayer.
While the paint is still wet, dab with a scrunched up piece of copy paper to achieve a distressed effect – especially in the centre. 
Quickly lay the stamped card down in the paint before it dries, 
and pick up the distressed print. 
It will dry instantly. Cover the round up with a mask now.
Blend a little white paint with the Night blue and spread over the same Gel Press Plate with the same brayer. Below you can see one version with no white added, and one with white added.
What a difference!!!
Place the Ocean Stencil onto the wet paint, and
dab with a piece of punchinella (sequin waste) or a dotty stencil .
Allow this paint to dry completely, and as soon as it is dry, peel away the stencil and place a sheet of clean copy paper down. It will pick up the still wet paint which was underneath the stencil. 
See?
Spread a layer of white acrylic paint over the dry blue layer on the Gel Plate now. Flip the Gel Plate on its Megamount over, and place the wet white paint down on the stamped piece with the mask. 
Flip back, rub the back of the card and pull your print.
Voila. That’s would should happen.
Wunderbar!
Now, if you take some dye based ink, like Artistry or Distress inks, and rub over the stamped image with a Spot-On sponge,
 
the distressed beige acrylic paint from the first layer will act as a resist, and all this lovely briney depth will appear.

Then we just need to trim back and mount – and the job’s done.

When I find the challenging little number from Sunday, 
I will give it a facelift and try to resurrect it!!!
Love & Hugs,
Barb
xxx

27 thoughts on “Making Waves with a GelpressPlate.

  1. That's lovely Barbara. My gel press prints have been so much better since I came to your workshops last year – I think I finally understand about how much paint to use and the benefits of letting it dry to create the layers. I did feel for you when you card started to stick and tear, but you handled it really graciously as always x

  2. Dear Barb

    thanks for re-doing this – I thought you coped very well indeed on Sunday (Mrs Professional or who?) just goes to show how quick thinking you have to be. That's why we love you!
    Love

    Maggie (Yorkite)
    still surprised no mention of Maya Anjelou's anniversary, I would never have known who she was before I found Clarity.

  3. Hi Barbara!
    It's brilliant when it works. Your demo on Sunday reminded me of that retreat!
    I really must try my gel press out as I've been using it with alcohol inks. If it's dried it out a lot it may be time for a new one! We'll see!
    Love and hugs xxx

  4. You coped brilliantly.
    Brought back memories of the retreat two years ago during the heat wave!
    I’ve only got into using a belli plate recently. I bought the square one with the mega mount. I love messing about with it. Such fun. Thank you.

    1. Hi Barbara
      This is lovely, it's nice to see where you were going on Sunday before the gremlin struck. You were very professional though and carried on regardless explaining whet you thought had gone wrong instead of covering it up and producing a finished print from your stash. You make these mistakes so we don't have to, just sometimes I'm sure you think, not now when I'm on live tv! Hope you have a lovely evening, looks like a nice evening for a stroll.
      Love Diane xxx

  5. I am so glad you have blogged this Barbara. I was gutted for you on the show when it didn't work. However, I also knew, knowing you as I do, that you would work out exactly why it happened and let us all know so that we could all learn from your mishap. It looks fabulous and I shall definitely be trying this when my plates arrive soon. xxxxx

  6. I had only just got round to watching Sundays show so I was really feeling for you. I had tried to show a friend what fun the gelli plate is and it went pear shaped too. We did get some interesting pages though, just not what we intended. 😀 xx

  7. Yay glad you did a step by step for this, knew it worked (just not on live TV) lovely colours too, those new paints are great. I have my mini gelli plates on the table ready to do something with them tomorrow, as you can see no plan formed yet…Im going free style!! XX

  8. Afternoon bloggy friends, hope everyone has had the sun we have had this afternoon, blue sky but chilly. Phoebe has been poorly today so she hasn't been out to enjoy it apart from in the garden. Sat up with her last night so just about able to get my head around making a few inky backgrounds. XX

    1. Hi Donna,
      I hope it's nothing serious and that she's up and running soon with a lovely waggy tail! Give her big cuddles and strokes from me, love a nod hugs,Alison xxx
      Ps thank you for your comment yesterday xx

  9. I thought you handled the "mishap" very professionally. I truly commend you. No flapping, no swearing! just carry on in your usual wonderful way.
    This blog is amazing – I will have to steel myself to try it.
    I have just managed to add a double frame around a groovi project. Sounds simply but being challenged, I have had some mishaps and gone off piste before.

    Request – Can you spare me a few minutes on Sunday at Ali Pali – I need to pass something on – maybe heavy, maybe light – hope it makes you merry and bright.
    Love Anne (Reading)

  10. The gelli print is fabulous Barbara, and I must use mine more. I find the steps a bit difficult to remember sometimes, but you explain everything so well that I think I am beginning to understand about the layers better now. I missed the bit where this went wrong on Sunday, but know that you would not be phased, and shows the worth of having one which you made earlier…lol. x

  11. Hi Barb,
    I really felt for you on Sunday when this went a little wrong. It would have to be on live tv. I thought you were extremely professional about it though. It's lovely to see what it should have been like and the finished piece is fabulous. Thank you for the step by step instructions – I might even be tempted to give this a go once my stamp arrives. .
    Did you pick a winner of the Egg hunt ! I must have missed it somehow.
    Love and hugs, Alison xxx

    1. Hi bloggy friends,
      Oh today has been absolutely beautiful here today – brilliant sunshine all day. Can't believe that yesterday we had rain and snow all day and then today is completely different. Great washing day! Also did a record for my mile swim today- 45 minutes!! I was so chuffed! I'm determined I'm going to really show my consultant what I'm made of ( if I ever get to see him!!) Now lost 2 1/2 stones in total, would like to get to 3 stones if I can. Hope you are all ok. Gilly, hope Neill is improving. Love and hugs Alison xxxx

  12. Fab step by step and gorgeous result! I watched the show this afternoon and really enjoyed it, thank you! It's reassuring when things sometimes go awry for the professionals too! The show was awesome as always and lots of fun. xxx

  13. Hello Barb, always inspired by this technique, and the finished piece is brilliant, love all the rounds stamps. I am sure if anyone can revive the piece from the show it will be you. Thanks for highlighting that the plates must be well conditioned if having used alcohol inks on them. Take care everyone. Bx

Leave a Reply to Dawn Sirdefield Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *