Gelli and Journals and Binding, Oh, Yes!

It was a very busy time in the studio, this week.

First up, a little bookbinding. And by little, I mean tiny!

My friend, Pat Thomas, asked for volunteers to try out a new, written bookbinding instruction sheet she'd created. She wanted to be sure that the directions could be followed to the successful conclusion of a small star book. Being so into bookbinding at the moment, I couldn't resist, so I asked her to send me a kit.

What fun!

Pat's instructions were dead on, and I was able to learn a whole new bookbinding technique from nothing but written instructions and line drawings. Well done, Pat!

I didn't take process photos as I was working my way through the little kit she sent me because that's her story to tell, but let me just say that Pat sent me nearly everything I'd need to create the book, including pre-cut book boards and some of her beautiful, hand-marbled papers cut to size.

Here it is, completed and all folded together.

And here it is, unfolded and open.

It's about 2" x 2", a little bitty book made of of adorable!

Next up, some experimentation after watching this new bit of genius from Joan Bess of GelliArts.

In this new video, Joan introduces a technique for making a printing and impression plate that works beautifully with the gelli plate, using heavy, fusible interfacing. I knew as soon as I saw it that I had some in my studio, already. Viva a well stocked art space!

Joan demonstrates how she cuts shapes from the interfacing, layers them on top of one another, and then irons the whole plate to fuse the pieces together. Go watch, it's worth every second.

These are the two plates I've created so far, the first one meant for the largest plate.

The interfacing shapes are placed on top of another piece of interfacing large enough to cover your chosen plate. This keeps it soft and flexible, yet very sturdy once everything is ironed down. Here's the texture plate I created for the next smallest gel plate...

I got some lovely results from them, as well. Here are some of the sheets of copy paper, deli paper, and fabric I used to test these plates.

BTW, the two prints towards the middle of the photo array above were done on Braille paper, which I have totally fallen in love with using. It's beautifully tactile (naturally), and heavy enough to accept all the mediums I've thrown at it so far.

I collaged some of my gelli prints on fabric and paper into my art journal, across a two-page spread.

Finally, I think I've finished this painting that I started several weeks ago. I can't say I'm thrilled with it, and it certainly doesn't look anything like what I was aiming for when I started, but that happens, sometimes.

This is acrylics on a cradled panel. It may be destined for the bucket of gesso.

This weekend, the design wall will be completed, and I'll post photos of it when it's done. I can't wait!

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos from my yard, today: spring is coming!!

Create with Spring!