Another gelli ball

We just found out we have about 2 weeks less than we expected to get my boy home with his cat. Cue full on panic mode.

I am also still not totally healed so I will just slam this up for a Friday and hope to be able to offer some instructions, warnings, and templates over the weekend for next week. Let’s see if I can….

This has been in the making for a bit. I kept screwing up my cutting and then I had to set it aside, and yada yada yada…

I quite like it, and it is the way easier “cube” version from my long ago post here. Click the link for the template to read the article. Pay attention to the CRITICAL NOTE in my post when cutting the slits! If you make one do share! I’d love to see it and they are a great, unique way to use of sets of prints.

Off to get my 6th (!) does of the vax, but the new one this time. AND a flu jab. Yeah, so maybe my hope of doing anything over the weekend is a pipe dream… time will tell.

PM Artists Studio printable papers – made a book

Like I mentioned yesterday, I did a crap job of capturing the process but I will try to add some nuggets to help you (and your friend Google) find the info you need.

This spine of the book is a variation on a Piano Hinge book. There was a challenge to use STICKS, and my stick was a Chopstick. There are a couple of videos still on YT from Club Scrap (remember them?) for making piano hinge books. This variation is just one stick, that makes a folded spine, and the pages are attached to that, rather than the stick linking each page.

The covers are decorated with elements from the kits and some of the bits of prints that weren’t perfect (laser printer issues mentioned yesterday)

And the pages also have pockets and tags and bits from the kit, or just pages cut in a useful way.

I have a couple more pages left to decorate, but don’t want to exactly duplicate the existing pages and I only have so many resources in the kit, so it’ll take some thought

You can see the papers (not all, but most) and they are deep and rich and lovely – and on sale. I also have a selection of stencils on the way too, now they offer free international shipping (over a reasonable amount for the order, if you only plan on doing one order a year LOL!) I am most anxious to get a set of stencils that are tomatoes. No idea why, I just really love them!

More on them when they hit my mailbox!

WOYWW 695 – can 700 be far behind?

Happy WOYWW. Getting better on the day. May back is finally feeling a little better and while I am hyper-busy tryng to sort out Darling Son’s (FINALLY!) return to the UK, I have managed to visit 80% of the desks on the day and catch up with the last few before the next WOYWW. Still majorly sad to have to miss the crop, but I just could not see a way to manage the distance and lose a whole weekend when there is still so much to be done. Mostly cause of the CAT. We have never had a cat before, so it is going to be a bit of a challenge, I’m sure. She’s a cutie for sure

My desk is a bit of a mess as I have been working on a little book project using some printable papers. Just a bit of fun, really, but I did a lousy job of capturing the process. I’ll share the final piece but as for process, not so much. You know when you get deep in the zone and just want to fininsh? Everything else falls away.

Th papers are lovely but I don’t think the paper I used to print them on is well liked by my new printer. The toner seems to flake off when creased or folded or rubbed. I think I need to determine which of the papers I have work best with that printer and make sure that is what is loaded in the drawer!

Other than that, not a lot to say. I still can’t scamper up a ladder, lest I risk my back, so no shot of the banner in place, although it is repaired and ready and the hanging method is solid. Here’s a hint (and proof of repair LOL!)

So that is enough. This week is another manic one, with people dropping by for various reasons most days. I cannot see it settling down anytime soon, if ever. The quote should have been: When I am an old woman, I shall be BUSY…

Happy WOYWW! Enjoy the crop all who will attend. Wish I could be there.

V is for VIOLET – another Gelli bird

As I have mentioned, my first Gelli bird got crushed in a house move. So sad.

One of my favourites – my GelliBird!

Well, the V: VIOLET challenge for the Gelli Arts ABC Printing Challenge struck a chord. I mean, I did make those fun alcohol ink pieces I shared yesterday, but they were just samples, not what I am really bad at, Print to Project. Looking over them, I realized I could quite easily use one of those pieces in a bird project I was considering for V: Violet. So I did!

I heavily edited my bird template in a few ways. I always created a box to add behind the base, to make it more stable, but I was able to add one to the base so it is part of the template itself, also altering the cut lines and crease line so it all worked. Result! I also made the outline curvy and got rid of virtually all the harsh angle. In the end the only bit I preserved was the two angled cuts that join the flat piece into a 3D shape.

I ended up using the same stencil from the alcohol ink play to create kinda feathery patterns on the wings and the body, in purples and gold.

and finally, I added the alcohol ink on contact paper from yesterday to the base. That gave it more weight at the bottom and offered more stability.

All it needed was a few finishing touches, including using up some of the gem swirls I pulled out for the repair of my doll banner!

all I had left in the end!

And the final bird:

Pretty darn happy with that.

WOYWW tomorrow. I think I missed a few people at the end of the list so will check that and visit, so I can start fresh in the morning with the new list. Hopefully, now my back is a bit better, I can scamper up the ladder and hang the doll banner and share that in place as well as a tidy desk.

When I am an old woman, I shall wear PURPLE….

The ABC Printing Challenge I am working on is U: Upcycle. At the moment I am sharing experiments. I was watching the sample video, gelli plate printing on plastic bags, and it made me think of clear things, like plastic page protectors, hard plastic packaging, and clear contact paper. And I thought about things that would remain clear – like Alcohol inks. That set me off on a journey LOL!

First experiment was thinking I might make a version of the circle curtain, using page protectors or contact paper instead of plastic bags. I thought they would be too opaque. Interesting but not very crisp, visually

So I tried adding the AI to the plate thru a stencil then sat looking at all that wasted ink ON the stencil. With the ink drying on the plate

I shifted over to another idea. I stuck a sheet of contact paper over the STENCIL – both sides had plenty of AI on them – and dripped a bit of straight alcohol into the holes. As part of the Upcycle part, I was using that hard foamy, plastic packaging to apply the ink, so pouncing that thru the holes added some of the ink on the packaging as well.

Such a lovely burst of colour! I stuck that to a bit of hard plastic clamshell packaging and held it up tot the light. Yummy!

Much like the first one, it is still indistinct, albeit pretty enough. Possibly need more of a play. In the end I peeled it off the plastic and added it to some white paper. And I pulled the print off the plate and did the same.

Love it but not sure how to use it. I do have a thought for the other bit, and will share that tomorrow!

Doll repair!

So, I made this paper doll banner in 2010. Some of them just needed a bit of bracing with coffee stirrers – perhaps due to The Hubster piling a load of computer equipment on top of them as we hustled to clear rooms for the window guys. There was crushing and bending. My fault for picking a bad place to stash them, I guess.

They have been hanging in a window for a loooong time. The fading was inevitable.

Original doll circa 2010

Doll today!

And there were other problems. My poor Keep Calm doll lost nearly all of her gems from her wings – I was hoovering them up for a week!

I found a handful of options to replace the wings but none of them were ideal.

The final solution was to colour the pink wings with alcohol ink markers to make them red. Worked well! The previous location is not really possible anymore, as I am not replacing the tatty old curtain that used to block the sun from my eyes for parts of the day. You can see it there

So while the dolls are looking OK at the moment, where to secure them is harder.

Luckily it isn’t summer so opening the windows often is less of an issue. I’m trying a couple of options. Or will do once my damn fragile back recovers – I threw it out TYING MY SHOES FFS, had to settle for a Dr.s call vs a visit to the hospital for a face-to-face appointment, and am still dealing with very limited mobility.

By Saturday I expect I will feel up to scampering up a ladder to test out the proposed location. And maybe by next week they will be back in place. And I will hope to get a few of the ABC Challenge items done over the weekend as well.

Wish me luck!

A bit brief – K is for KEYS

Scheduling in advance cause all day today is taken up errands and stuff.

With the challenges, I sometimes catch the sponsored shorts on YouTube (under one minute, bare bones info) and I think to myself Well, that was MY idea for the challenge too – now what will I do? In some cases, really there aren’t a lot of options. Take the J: Jeans one. They used a pocket to put the texture on the plate, almost like an image transfer. So what else is there? I mean I have … two other ideas, but one is going to take a bit of experimenting to see if it will work, and the other (of course) requires an old pair of jeans. Which I don’t have – all bundled off to the charity shop at some point. Should I go buy a pair back??

Anyway, I kinda felt the same about KEYS. I played a bit with using some different things like alcohol ink and pan pastels, but frankly it was all just a key or two or three and not very interesting. So I went another way. A bit like my choice of using an image transfer of Joe EXOTIC for E: Exotic I used an image transfer of typewriter KEYS for this one. Inspired? Not really. It was still just an image transfer, but I do like the look of it. I used Payne’s Grey for the transfer part, and Quin Gold for the pick-up and the contrast is stark.

Just a bit of a close-up:

Sometimes, the amount of detail you can get surprises me!

That’s it for today, short and sweet.

WOYWW 694 – sorted, but for how long?

Happy WOYWW! Finally a week where I can get around to allll the desks, after weeks of chaos and all new windows! And my desk (and room) are as tidy as they ever have been. Plus, removing one bookcase (which had been part of a “false wall” ) and turning another has given me a lot more floor-space and lets the light reach all but the doorway. Result!

walking in from the door

the light!

And the new windows are so fresh and clean! And lurking there is my ancient Cricut, 1st gen, still running Sure Cuts A Lot. Queen of old technology, me.

And my desk is quite tidy too.

Doing a little repair work on my paper doll garland, but I’ll save that to share when I have sorted them out. Other than that, it’s just pushing on with the daily Gelli Arts printing challenge, as small moments of art are all I have time for at the moment.

This has been a bit of a challenge for sure. But now it’s time for a new challenge…

{sigh}

See you round yours in a bit. Promise.

L: Layers – yeah I am all over the place…

Still trying to catch up and get the house back to normal. My crafty space is getting there, but there are other places that need more attention so it keeps getting a bit of time, the promise of more, then forgotten for a bit.

I have a piece I was playing with and another use for a bit of rubbish. You may recall I showed using some plastic packaging to get a textured effect with acrylic paint.

Well, I had a thought…the fact it is plastic might make it an interesting thing to use with Alcohol inks!

It’s maybe a little hard to explain, but you know when the AIs are kinda more on the dry side and you pounce over them, the ink disperses into little cells? You can get that sort of effect better with the plastic packaging than with the foam pads. Or at least *I* think so. Anyway, this piece had a lot of layers: alcohol ink, mica powders, a few layers or stencils, acrylic paints…

And the final piece I really like.

I feel like this could end up as a tip-in art journal page. I had a further play and made a similar piece with only a couple of layers. What I loved about this was how the mica that was clinging to the edges of the letter stencil transferred and gave me an outline while also kinda containing the alcohol inks! I love it so much and (like happens all too often) wish I could re-create the effect reliably. I plan to play with this a bit more for sure.

I will be at the hospital for the day, but am still hoping I manage a decent WOYWW view of my space tomorrow. Fingers crossed I also manage a full day of visits, before and after a potential knitting mate visit!

P is for Pastels!

Firstly, the whole window replacement thing was a LOT more mess and disruption than expected. Long days cleaning up 120 years of dust from the sash windows being pulled out, and truly endless cups of tea and coffee took up more time than expected.

Back to the Gelli Arts challenges. I had an idea I wanted to try so I skipped over a few of the ABC Challenge letters to jump right to Pastels. Weird, how we interpret things. When I first read it my mind went to pastel colours – pale, dreamy soft colours, very much not me most days. But I realized it was probably PAN Pastels so grabbed those instead.

I had this feather stencil I got a while back, I think from WISH, and it was a bit big for most things so I grabbed than and a rainbow of colours

I mean, I knew this was going to work in the usual way, obviously, but I also had my pot of mica powder on my desk so…

Both things are dry so I didn’t have a lot of concerns about rubbing the mica over the Pan Pastels, but I still took a bit of care. If I did this again, with this sort of stencil, I think I would take the time to cut out the image to make a mask for the rest of the background, or take even MORE care when smudging on the mica. Still, it turned out pretty cool.

My plate was VERY dirty, so I got a lot of residual stuff pulling up, and yeah, it looks a bit lackluster but, as ever with mica, when you tip it towards the light…

Just not able to truly capture the lovely effect. As ever with these challenges, the first attempts are only ever experiments. But taking what I learn with each one will inform further play.

I have a couple of classes I still need to either begin or finish, and J: Jeans thru O:Oval to catch up on but the house is still not back in order, although the windows are IN. Phew. Probably share a shot or two for WOYWW, where (for the first time in a couple of weeks) I will hope I can fully participate. Might try to squeak in a few visits before then if I can.

Seems weird, sharing such a colourful image on a sombre day. Luckily my important and much re-scheduled Drs. appointment is tomorrow, not today, so it was not cancelled. Phew. Life goes on.