Tag Taechnique 2: Pigment inks on the gelli plate

Hi everyone! I have had a couple of extended crafty sessions over the last couple of days playing around with different pigment ink pads and acrylic paints on the Gelli plate. Tonight's techniques follow on from the previous technique using Shaving foam (see previous post if you missed it). I do hope you will have as much fun as I have had playing around with these different mediums.

I have briefly explained a simple technique on the main group page for Mini Marvels. This involves stamping directly onto the gelli plate with a pigment ink pad. I used VersaFine Clair ink pads. The trick is to allow this to dry sufficiently before brayering a light coloured acrylic paint over the top of the stamped image and then pulling a print off.  Here is another sample of this first, simple technique. It does make lovely backgrounds when you use different colours.

Using a much larger gelli plate I then tried stamping onto acrylic paint with the pigment ink pads and adding several layers before pulling a print. It gives a much more detailed background which I love.

I started by choosing several acrylic paint colours - I used Dina Wakely paints by Ranger -  and brayered them across my Gelli plate. The next step was to layer some stencils across the paint and pull off a print leaving the stencils in place. I then removed the stencils and allowed this to dry. 

Once dry, I added more paints and brayered a couple of different colours sparingly in different places on the gelli plate. Then,  I took some Claudine Helmuth foam stamps and stamped into the wet paint and left this to dry. You do need to be patient between layers. 

Once the stamped images were dry, I overstamped again, but this time using the Pigment ink pads. And again, I let this dry. Don't be tempted to use a heat gun. It dries the gelli plate too fiercely. 

Here I've used a couple of Indigo Blu dinkie stamps and one of Kate Crane's stamps from one of her Carabelle stamp sets. The next step, once these images have dried, is to lightly paint over the whole thing with a light coloured paint. I use either White, light/pale pink or blue. All work well for this technique. I got this idea from a class with the lovely Kate Crane. 

As you can see I have brayered a very thin layer of paint across the plate. You can still see the pigment stamped images through it. I then quickly pulled my print. It wasn't perfect, but I love the distressed result. I even managed another print! 

This now ready for die-cutting a couple of tags from or I might use this one for ATCs. I hope you'll have a go at this technique too, although there is a lot of waiting around for the layers to dry. Have a look at You Tube for more ideas. This is mainly where I got my ideas from. I will post another technique tomorrow using pigment ink pads on the gelli plate. I hope you can drop by!