What are gelatos?? asks Heather ...

Well - simple answer my little friend - is - these are gelatos:

They are yummy, lipstick style, very creamy, watersoluble sticks - and they can do this sort of thing on paper and in your sketchbooks:

 

and this sort of yummy thing on fabric:

I first saw them in February when visiting  the trade show at the NEC with my friend Steph (this is a very dangerous place to visit alone .. take a sensible friend ... I haven't got any so I went with Steph). Anyway - saw theses and immediately thought they had a potential for use in place of neocolour 2 (not 1) - in bold because they are so easy to mix up .. and that is the point ... you know I love neocolour 1 for rubbings, drawing, sketchbook work, and on finished work, canvas etc etc. For me they are the essential one of the two neocolours, so I avoid neocolour 2, as they look exactly the same once the wrappers off (about 10 seconds in my case). But I would still like a watersoluble crayon of some sort .. tried inktense bars and they are lovely (I got the biggest set to check this) .. but they are very messy on the paws; tried the pencils .. but too fine really for what I want; tried artbars - again lovely, but messy on the hands too; watersoluble pencils - lovely but again too fine. So (I am getting to the gelatos - honest) I saw these and thought they looked very promising. My sensible friend said - oooh - yummy - I would deffo get those - so I did. 

Then all my wheels fell of (pneumonia, house move, eye falling out, and car vandalism to name just the major players) .. and I had no chance to trial them out properly until recently. But when I did - ooh-er .. they do just what I wanted and so much more - my favourite type of tool - a multi tasker ..

So - what do they do? ..

They are wonderful when you are out and about and want some transparent colour to wash in your sketchbook - either as a base, or over images already made .. even I quail at the thought of carrying pots of liquid dye in my sketch bag ..

 

These above are all done either onto plain pages, or over other bits in my sketchbooks and once the gelato and water are dry, they are ready to work back in to. You may have noticed that you can sometimes see the lines made where I have laid the gelato colour on the page .. like this:

 

this is red gelato being washed out with a paint brush and spritzed water .. I have found that the marks do not wash away completely on most papers .. you can use this as a feature, as here, where I have lets the marks act as a vague outline on the pages .. I like this use a lot

 

or you can use another page as a palette .. like this:

  

or if you don't want the marks of the palette in your book - then you can use deli paper as a palette - just take a few sheets in your travelling kit - this pear on fabric was done like that .. and of course I have kept the deli paper to use with it.

Deli paper gives up virtually all of the colour so is really good as a palette for the gelatos

They are also handy for 'inking' little stamps whilst on the move .. just rub the stick (take lid off ..) over the stamp, give it a quick spritz of water and stamp .. it's a gentle impression .. but very useful ..

 

 

 

 although they are water soluble, once they are dry they don't move much .. so I could go back over these with another wash of colour

 

they also mix beautifully with gesso to make gentle pastel semi opaque washes .. I can't find my image right now (been looking for 30 minutes) .. so will come back to you on that one ..

But washes and being lovely water soluble crayons is not all they do - in fact, it's not their most exciting use for me .. no ..  that would be that they can also be use very much like oil pastels - but without the 'never dry' issue and smell - this page was just seeing how they blend and mix (answer - very very nicely)

 

 
so then I started drawing into some of my sketchbook prints (mostly from the gelli plate) to see what they were like:

 

 

  

oh - that last one is done over a background of gesso and gelato .. neutral colour pack on top

then inevitably, my mind turns to the need to add more colour .. and how to make these water resistant for that? Matt medium of course. Tiny splodge from tube brushed over the image and bingo - sealed . The colour moves a tiny bit whilst you are doing this -  but that is actually very nice. So then you can do this : washing gelatos over fixed gelatos .. how multi task is that??

  

that is SO exciting .. here are a few more

  

 the hole on the next one is where I was showing how to use a Japanese screw punch .. just in case you were wondering ..

I suspect a bit of gesso mixed with the gelatos in this next one ...

 

  the next couple have had dye added over the top instead of more gelato .. remember I have sealed the prints with matt medium ..

 and this next one has some repair tissue with a stencil print of clocks on, pasted over the top of the gelato drawing and gelato wash .. to show how transparent the repair tissue is .. and also how everything plays together so well 

then of course comes the question - can we do this on fabric? I should coco .. the gelatos work and blend beautifully, just make sure to seal with some matt medium and then add some liquid dye and voila ..

 

 

you can see where I laid a palette out on the one below .. but I like it

 

lots of dye runs and drying lines - not perfect .. but I like that too

  

I have not tried these through the washing machine yet - I will and let you know.  A gentle hand wash will be fine though as the gelatos are sealed with acrylic medium. They are still quite soft enough to stitch - and I shall get doing that next

 

 I have only really scratched the edges so far with these and am planning some time to play some more and see what else they will do . But I am totally convinced they are a great addition to my tool kit .. colour rich and versatile .. plus in a nice case for messy bods like me .. perfect.

I took them to the NEC to demonstrate and sold out of all sets ... but I've just got some more and put them in the online shop. I was going to wait until I had the new shop ready to launch ... but that may be a while yet!! so I've put them in the old one ..

Here is a quick step by step .. just showing a drawing, palette and wash, then going back in again to add some more colour

  

the background is a stencil offprint and the drawing is done with blended gelatos..

  

 bit too pale after first wash .. so went back in on top with more gelatos

 and added some more to the main image .. 

as ever - just keep gong and keep playing. This could easily now be transferred to fabric and then stitched. I'll be back soon with some results using these pieces. Thank you for reading - Hilary x

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second lot from Festival of Quilts .. also very colourful

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