Homemade Gelli plate.

I have had a 'proper' gelli plate for a while now, probably 18months. I think I have used it 3times, I love the idea of it, I just can't get terribly excited about using it... I have no idea why. Maybe I just need to be inspired by the right person. i do love the pieces made by Andy Skinner, he has a very arty approach rather than a crafting approach. I also really like the way Barbara Gray  uses her gelli plate. She has more of a crafting approach, but her end results are quite arty... besides which she is funny. 

Then I started seeing people making their own gelli plates, wow I wish I had seen them before I got the real one...I love making tools, trying to save money where possible, but mostly because I get satisfaction from creating rather than buying...  

So I decided to make one, for no other reason really than I wanted to try it. My real one is 8x10 inches, so I knew I wanted to make a different size. I thought that one big enough to use with tags would be a cool size, and easy to transport to demos. 

I used the recipe from Pam Thorburns blog, I have researched many recipes and blogs and they are all pretty much the same. many use american weights/volumes. As Pam is in the Uk and had worked out the uk equivalents I just followed her recipe. 

Now I only wanted a small tag sized plate, and I knew the amount in the recipe was going to give me a bigger plate.... no matter, I will make a big one, cut it in half and give half to a friend. 

I was going to use plastic storage boxes as the molds, but eventually settled on using this biscuit tin as it had a completely smooth base. 

I mixed up the ingredients, and poured.. and got lots of bubbles. Very disheartening. So I chopped it all up and remelted it in the microwave, this time I poured it slowly through a sieve... much better, but still not as good as I wanted. So again I remelted the gelli and poured again. This time i got a nice smooth surface. 

It was pretty much set in 4hrs, but I left it overnight before using it. As you can see I have cut the plate in half. Each plate now measures approx 11cm by 22cm, which is the size of a large tag. 

I am keeping the plates in these plastic boxes, very handy as they are perfect size and have lids.. I paid 99p for each box. 

I trimmed the plates so that they are just smaller than the boxes, just enough to get a finger under the corner to help lift them out. 

As you can see they are the right size for all my tags. 

So, now I have done the bit I was interested in .. I guess I had better use one of them.. 

I layered up some PaperArtsy Fresco paints, and this is the page that I pulled. As you can see, I used 2 masks in the process to give me a couple of unpainted areas. I wasn't aiming at anything in particular, just trying it out. But I did like the resulting colours. 

It is always a good thing to have spare paper next to you, to clean off your brayer. so after I pulled my main print, I was left with this scrap piece and also the 2 mask bits.. 

I cut my main print in half, and now I had all these usable pieces. 

I could have stopped right here, put them away in a box or drawer. I cannot tell you how many videos I have watched, seeing people pull prints, use scrap paper and then do nothing with them. Don't get me wrong, I am as guilty of hoarding as much as the next crafter, but I do believe gelli print hoarding is a whole other phenomena. There are drawers the world over full to bursting with painty papers..

Not me... at least not this time. I decided to use them straight away. 

I emptied out a bag 'o' bits.. 

and I made cards.. 5 of them. All from one pulled print, the masks and the scrap paper. 

Make something with your prints people, I want to be inspired!

Darcy x