Gelli Arts® Printed Tealight Bags

Hello! Welcome to the
Gelli Arts® Blog!

Birgit here today with a
fun and simple project to bring some light to these darker winter days.

Add a unique and
personal touch to your Christmas decorations by Gelli® printing on white paper
bags and put tea lights in them!

Here’s what you need:

Gelli® plate 8”x10”

Brayer

Thin white paper bags
(for sandwiches)

Acrylic paint (for
instance gold or silver combined with your favorite colors)

Printer paper

Scissors

Stencils (I used Etoilesfrom Carabelle Studio)

Small jars

Optional: Matte Medium +
Flat brush

Before you start
printing cut a bunch of snowflake shapes from printer paper.

Do a quick search on
Google or YouTube and you will find loads of tutorials on how to cut these – check this tutorial out here!

Take some paper bags and
open them carefully at the bottom or cut off the bottom strip so you have a bag
with an opening on 2 sides.

Use a brayer to spread
gold or silver acrylic paint on the Gelli® plate. These colors are translucent which will help make the light shine through beautifully and add a
festive sparkle to the bags!

Place a paper bag at the
edge of the plate and put your hands in from both sides. Now roll the bag
towards yourself gently rubbing the paper with your hands. If you’re using a larger bag you may have to go back and repeat this step until the entire bag is colored. 

Color a bunch of bags so
you have them ready for the next step. Let them dry well then fold them back
into the original shape.

Now take out the paper
snowflakes.

Spread your favorite
acrylic colors on the Gelli® plate and lay some of the snowflakes on top.

Then place a colored
paper bag on top and gently rub to make the print.

Peel the paper
snowflakes from the Gelli® plate. Don’t wait to long before doing this, when
the paint dries it gets a little harder to remove the paper from the plate. Save the painted
snowflakes for future use!

  

Another way of printing
is using stencils.

Spread the paint on the
Gelli® plate and lay stencils on top.

Of course you can now go
straight ahead and make a print on a bag. But I like the second print much
better than the first!  If you agree 🙂 pull the first print with a regular piece of copy paper (save this print – you can use it for a collage paper later if you like!) and then take your second print with your white bag. 

Now remove the stencils
from the plate and make a print from the remaining paint.

I really, really love
this distressed look!

Make a variety of prints
on all your bags. If at the end you have a couple of prints that didn’t turn
out so well then they will probably be a great background for your painted
snowflakes.

Use a matte medium to
apply them to the bags.

Let the bags dry well
and close the bottom again. Then roll down from the top and place a glass (jar)
inside to hold a tea light.

Happy Holidays! J

– Birgit

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