2024 Topic 7: (Gel) Printing {by Mags Woodcock} on the PaperArtsy Blog

Hi friends, it's Mags here with you today

When I opened my most recent package from PaperArtsy HQ I was delighted to discover I had been sent one of the new Christmas stamp sets from Kate crane (KC007), along with one of her stencils (PS440). Also in the package were two bottles of Mattints, Dragonfly (MT07) and a mystery Mattint. I felt very privileged to receive this one before it's release. I couldn't wait to get started.

The blog topic Gel Printing was ideal for using these fabulous supplies. Today I have created 4 festive greetings cards let's take a closer look.

As the current theme on the blog is Nature I decided to create some backgrounds for my cards using my Gel plate and foliage from our garden. For the first background I used a few sprigs of conifer, I inked the foliage up with a black ink pad (Jet Black, Ranger, Archival) similar to how you would ink up a stamp. I pressed them firmly onto my gel plate to transfer the ink. When I was happy with the results I mixed some PaperArtsy Metallic Glaze (FF24) with an equal amount of  Dragonfly Mattint, brayered it onto the plate and then used heavy copy paper to pull a print. The benefit of this mixture is that it allows for a smooth coating on the gel plate and also gives a lovely twinkly look to the background. I repeated this technique several times using both Dragonfly Mattint, but also the mystery Mattint, Greenstone (MT09) which I received in my parcel.

Having created a few backgrounds using the conifer I wanted to try the sprigs of Yew I had picked. This called for a different approach to adding the black to the foliage. I soon found that brayering on some Fresco Finish Chalk acrylic in Little Black Dress (FF19) worked a treat, so again I created quite a few prints using the similar technique to before.

Having created some lovely botanical prints, I wanted to add a little more detail, so I added a little more definition where needed, using a black permanent fine-liner

It was now time to move on to using the fabulous Kate Crane stencil (PS440) I received in my parcel. Yet again I chose to use the Mattints mixed with the Metallic Glaze, but also some backgrounds using just the Glaze (to fit in with the white topic)

Having first brayered on the Mattint/Glaze mix to the plate, I laid the stencil on the gel plate and brushed on a further coat using a large brush and working from top to bottom. I pulled a print with the stencil in place, removed it and pulled a second print. Further prints followed to clean the plate of any remaining colour. As it happens I used one of those clean up prints in my finished cards. Nothing is ever wasted !

You can see the resulting print (using just the Metallic Glaze) here

Remember that clean up print I mentioned ? Well I used the stencil placed on the top to mask off the background whilst I used the word stamps from Kate's stamp set (KC007) to add some interesting visual texture, followed by a fine-liner to mark out the stars.

I created plenty of prints so had lots to choose from when creating my cards.

It was now time to move on to creating the stamped images for the cards. I used PaperArtsy Smoothy card (SCA4)and Ranger, Archival, Jet Black ink pad. The colouring was easy using our mystery Mattint, Dragonfly Mattint and pure Metallic Glaze. I love the contrast between the matt and the sparkle that combination gave.

For the second two cards I wanted a flurry of snowmen, or should that be a drift of snowmen ? along with some of the lovely angels. I used the same techniques for adding colour.

Returning once more to my backgrounds, having cut panels to fit my card blanks, I stamped some of the words from the stamp set around the edges of the panels and added doodled borders to join them up. This created an interesting border for each scene.

For the snowmen I decided to stand them  amongst some snow drifts. When torn, the smoothy cardstock gives a lovely distressed edge similar to fallen snow, perfect for these cards.

You can also see how I used the word stamps to create a different greeting for the base of the card. The finishing touches were to add a little pop of colour to the angels and snowmen using a fine-liner.

So lets take another look at the finished cards.

I've had great fun creating these cards and I have plenty of backgrounds ready for more. I hope you try out these easy techniques and have fun. Happy crafting !

Mags x

YouTube: Mags Woodcock

Facebook: @magsw@magswoodcock

Instagram: @magswoodcock