2016 # 9 Tags and Dominoes {by Alison Hall}

 2016 Topic 9: Mono Printing

Hi everyone Alison (Craftytrog) here. Tonight I'd like to share with you a post about using PaperArtsy Eclectica Ellen Vargo stamps and Fresco Finish Paint on your Gelli Plates, to create beautiful prints.

Ellen's stamps have a great hand-carved look, which work really well on Gelli Plates to give you fabulous abstract prints. I've used Stampbord and a couple of tags with bright primary coloured Fresco Finish Paint to make my prints.

Step One: Using an 8 x 10 inch Gelli Plate, I began by adding some dots of Banana, Captain Peacock and Bougainvillea Fresco Finish Paint to it as shown below. I'm afraid I don't keep my Gelli Plate very pristine, as I like the effect of previous paint appearing on my prints. Haha! 

If your room is quite warm, you might need to add Fresco Finish Paint Drying Retarder to your paint to stop it drying too quickly before you take your prints.

Step Two: Next, I used my brayer to spread the paint over the Gelli Plate. I did this quite lightly so that the colours wouldn't mix too much.

Step Three: Then I used various stamps from PaperArtsy Ellen Vargo Stamp Set EEV03 to stamp into the paint on the Gelli Plate. In between stamping I stamped off the paint onto some scrap paper, so that the next stamping would be clean. I also made sure to clean the paint thoroughly off each stamp before switching to another one.

Step Four: I carefully placed my Stampbord pieces face down on my Gelli Plate to take my prints. Then I took some prints with a couple of Size 8 Manila Tags, pressing them down repeatedly to use up what was left on my plate.

Step Five: On the Stampbord pieces I added some stamping using various stamps from EEV06, and Jet Black Archival Ink. I then added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat word sticker, inked the edges of the Stampbord with black, and covered it with a protective layer of Glossy Accents. Two or three layers of Fresco Gloss Glaze would work well as a sealer too.

EEV06,

Step Six: On the tags, I stamped the flowers from EEV10 using Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint. I then painted in the flowers with the Snowflake.

Step Seven: I then over-stamped the flowers with Black Archival ink. The white base allows the flowers to stand out on the colourful background.

Step Eight: I added some colour to the flowers with Banana, Bougainvillea and Zucchini Fresco Finish Paint, added a painted base for the black archival stamped phrases from EEV10, then sponged some Little Black Dress Fresco Finish through the dots on Lin Brown Stencil 025 randomly over the tags. To finish, I inked the edges of the tags with black archival ink, then stapled some ribbon to the tops.

I was super happy with my abstract, colourful prints, I'll definitely be using Ellen's stamps again on my Gelli Plate. I hope I've inspired you to use something other than paper with your Gelli Plates too, Fresco Finish paint works on nearly any surface. I'm going to attach some brooch backs to my Stampbord pieces to make some early Christmas presents! ;-)

I look forward to seeing your Gelli art entries for the challenge,

Alison x

Craftytrog's Inky Adventures

Wow Alison, these are stunning. The colours literally jump off them and you managed to get so many pieces from the printing. it is always so satisfying to make so many pieces in one session. Ellen's stamps could not be more prefect for this technique. I particularly love the tags, but the stampbord pieces are fab too, they would make great pieces of jewellery. ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this Mono Printing topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #9: Mono Printing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Mono Printing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, May 15th 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.