Mastering the Layers, week 1

I really like gel printing!  I like the surprise factor of never knowing exactly what the print will look like.  Some of my prints I love.  Some, not so much.

Here are the prints I made during the first week's worth of lessons:

After I did the first day's foundational lesson, I kept playing.

These 3 prints were made after I discovered what happens when you try to make mud.  I wanted beige paint and knew I could make it by mixing the primary colors and white.  I mixed the colors on  a gel plate and then cleaned my brayer on a piece of paper.  What was cleaned off the brayer did not look beige.  I wanted to see if I could duplicate that effect purposely.  So again I put red, blue, yellow paint dabs on a gel plate, mixed them with the brayer, added white.  Voila, a pretty beige, at least that's how it looked on the plate. I added a favorite stencil and pulled off some excess paint.

These are the surprising prints.  Not very beige!

Day 2:

Grungy prints

Day 3:

 

Paint and stencil.

Paint, a piece of ribbed plastic, foam stamps.

I really like these prints.  There's a certain control, like maybe I could duplicate this.

The white and orange 6x6 gel plate in the corner is waiting for me to add something else,

though I don't know exactly what it will be.

Day 4:  Q.  What happens when you add lots of colors to the same gel plate?

 plate 1 --  first pull left, ghost print right

plate 2 -- first pull left, ghost print right

A.  Some interesting prints!

I'm using up a lot of old craft paint.  You know the kind -- on sale for 50c a bottle or 3/$1.  I've had some of it for a long time and it's time to use it up.  Not high quality paint, but it does make for some interesting results:  When I made this I hadn't figured out how to get less paint to come out, so these prints took a looong time to dry; if the paint isn't fully shaken it comes out separated; and the brayer slips and slides around if I'm not careful.

Day 5:  Q.  What do you do if you have an ugly or uninteresting print?
A.  Add more color and pattern!

 I made this print for the grunge lesson.

I thought I might improve it.

This looks less interesting than the original.

Sometimes "fixing" a print does not make it better.

And sometimes it does!

I love how vibrant this print it.

The camera didn't capture it all, but the background has a lot of very interesting green bits.

I learned about gel printing about a year ago when I watched a video on the blog at Joggles.com, where they sell the Gel Press printing plates.  Last October I saw that Carolyn Dube was teaching a gel printing class at Art-is-You, and it seemed the perfect time to try out this new technique. What a great introduction!

Mastering the Layers is Carolyn's 3 week online course which is greatly expanding my understanding of print making, how to use a gel plate, and, because it's Carolyn, FUN!

New Year, New Studio, New Class

Whether it's because September is the start of a new school year, or because so many of my childhood classmates celebrated Rosh Hashanah, this time of year always signals a new year to me.  I know it's only mid August, but I'm ready for the end of Summer and new beginnings.

We live in a large Victorian farmhouse that is too large for just the two of us.  The kids are grown and flown and only come home for the occasional garden clean-up weekend, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  We don't need this much house.

garden bed needing weeding

But a large house lived in by two packrats, has a large amount of stuff.  The process of getting it ready to sell is, well daunting, to say the least.  I have an art studio in the house (plus a barn full of creative and antique treasures).  My husband has stuff.  And over the years we have spread out, so there isn't a room without clutter!  All this has to be cleared out for the house to show to advantage.

cool stuff, but in such a cluttered state, who knows what's there!

A week ago I decided to move my art studio downstairs.  Where it was located was better viewed as a bedroom -- upstairs and near a bath.  Where I am moving is better viewed as a den and on the first floor.  It's a beginning nod to eventually staging the house.

Instead of moving everything that is art-related, I've just moved the supplies I use all the time -- paint, stamp pads, washi tape, glitter, paper, scissors, etc.  I figure if I don't move anything else in here for the next three weeks (except what I specifically need for projects and classes) it will help me clutter-clear the old studio, barn & various craft supply hiding places!  There are way too many of those in my life/house.  I have three tall IKEA bookcases and I am determined to fit everything I need in them.  If it doesn't fit, out it goes.  I need to be ruthless.

On Monday, I started a new online class called "Mastering the Layers," all about gel plate printing.  It was a great impetus to make the new studio a place I could work and learn .  Check out the link to see all about the class and a fun video with the teacher Carolyn Dube.

This is just the paper I used to clean off my brayer.  I love the colors and imagine with what I learn in class I will be able to turn it into something special.