Gelli Masking

16/02/2013 by UKMA 7 Comments

I decided to take one of Julie Balzer’s Getting Started With… classes for the Gelli plate.  I felt like I was getting interesting prints with simple layers but her description said something about “getting exactly what you want” from the plate, rather than a random magic effect that is a complete unknown every time, so that seemed worth it.  The last two classes, on multiple masking and layering, were particularly interesting.  And I was keen to have a go.  Clearly I am not getting it, because I still felt like I couldn’t predict exactly what I was going to get, but I did feel like I had a better idea of how they layers were going to interact.

The first thing I did was create and cut a few masks.  I did them on the Cricut.

Then I played around with simple masking, and some stencils, stamps, etc.  The first is the plain yellow layer, just with some paint “removal” things…

 

And for the next layer I masked the circle and used one of my stamps on the outer area.  I love it but wish I would have stopped there.

I really should have done something to the red grid layer because I feel  it is a little too overpowering.  It’s not HORRIBLE, it’s just not what I wanted.

But the layer I pulled with a deeper yellow (like you can do with thick white paint – really any other colour seems to work, it doesn’t HAVE to be white) was nifty. That is all just the debris on the plate, from not cleaning it between layers.

So I tried a few more things and in the end made this little piece for my DH.  HE will know what it refers to, and maybe think back to a suggestion for a scrapbook page he made this morning, but then again he may not.

It’s mostly prints, with a bit of collage from scraps, failures, and masks added to it.  a bit of stamping and there you go. I’m actually quite pleased with it, but now feel I need to go back to the lessons to see if I can solidify in my head the order – I am all for the “magic,” like DD said, but sometimes I really DO want to know what I am going to get when I pull.

I am also anxious for a delivery of what I HOPE is going to be deli paper.  After seeing Julie use it, I love that you can see thru it to place things exactly.   It took me a while to find some that was reasonably priced!  Whatever you do, if you are looking for it, do NOT order from Amazon.co.uk!  The price is ok (about £11, I think) but the SHIPPING is £30+ as it ships from the USA .  Most of the UK suppliers to actual deli’s are ALSO pretty steep (and you have to buy a case of it, so like 12 packs of 1000 sheets) but I found a place that has a single box for under £15.  It remains to be seen if what I get is a) what I EXPECT and b) what I WANT. I’ll let you know.