I am so not capable of writing a short sharp blog post. I get so excited when I am sorting the photos and I want to show you EVERYTHING .. plus a few extra ideas as well. It's the same when I am teaching and is probably why students look a bit punch drunk by the end of the day. And if I could I would give them audio tapes to get a few more thoughts and ideas in overnight ... now that is a thought .. hmm
So in that spirit we will carry on with images of cloths and paper printed at Festival last week. Last post was using the gelli plate with natural items to create beautiful detailed prints (which then got splattered with lots of extra colour - another thing I can't help). It is my favourite way to gellip - but the plate also does loads of other lovely things .. it is so soft, any texture comes up beautifully. These few were done with a small off cut of foam board - just marked into the plate, then printed and overprinted - I love this - the marks are so gestural and personal.
DO you remember my lovely potato masher (I now have a few)? Shaped like a daisy (no idea why that helps with the spuds) - I finally got it onto the gelli this show - together with a couple of other mashers .. great marks and would be great cloth to use in backgrounds etc
here is the daisy boy taking centre stage (I had to add colour in the background with the computer as it amazingly it is not yet dyed) .. a few colour reversals of this and you have wonderful materials for a quilt (I wish I had more time)
oh look...... just playing with colour replacements on the computer - what a quilt this would be
you can even try out different sashing colours
Foam stamps also work really well with the gelli plate .. it picks up alot of their texture too. These are a mix of using the gelli and directly applied
this is where the hearts came from .. such a simple stamp - but really effective with just a bit of paint and dye .. another piece just begging to be made
my favourite poppy was this one, which I bodged up by leaving another stamp under the cloth when I printed .. but in fact I love the diagonal element it has given. Not something I would have done myself (if you know me, you will know I find diagonals all a bit too racy) .. but it has lifted this print .. fate often knows best and I shall try and remember and learn ..
we all enjoyed that so much, we did another ..
you truly don't need alot of imagination to see potential in these - made using a simple homemade foam stamp again .. making materials is design made easy
This stamp is even simpler ... but still interesting
and if you imagine cutting the cloth and re-piecing it ...
Most of the show was dedicated to gelliping - and all these techniques and alot more are covered in some depth in my book 'The Gentle(ish) Art of Gelliping' - the 'ish' is because I am not sure it is gentle the way I do it ... but it could be (I think). Truly - if you have a gelli plate and haven't got this book, you are almost certainly not getting the best out of it ... even though I say so myself. It is almost certainly the only book you will ever get that has an accidently unfinished sentence. I plan to have a competition to try and guess what it should have said when we have sold half the books .. with one of the pieces from the book as a prize .. so watch out for that
On Sunday however - I did allow myself to play with my lovely stencils a bit too - always a really quick and easy way to make unique cloth to go with your prints - or for anything else come to that. Here are just a few ..
stencilling and over stencilling with paint and then flooding with dye gives such depth to the finished pieces. Stencilling and stamping, pus other surface design techniques are covered in my first book 'Make it Perosnal'. I am getting into my last few boxes of this - so if you haven't got it .. you might want to order soon...
'Sunburst' - an old favourite stencil never fails me
fiddled in the computer using a negative image
in fact - alot of fiddling done (the process for this is also in the gelliping book)- and then collaged for ideas like these
Ok - enough ... I have exhausted us all I think. I did have a couple of new toys with me at Festival - I will tell you about those next time .. here are some pears done with one of them.. any guesses? - those who saw it at the show keep mum!!
Thank you for staying all the way through!! - Hilary xx
