Create Summer Postcards with the Gelli Arts® Stamping & Printing Kit

Hi there!
It’s Marsha here with a fun summer gel printing project that you can partly
create on the go!

Because Gelli
Arts® DIY Printing Kits contain everything you need for gel printing they are
perfect for taking with you on a summer trip or a weekend getaway.

For this
art-on-the-go project, I chose to work with the Stamping & Printing Kit. It
contains a 5”x5” Gelli Arts® gel printing plate, three bottles of Gelli Arts®
Premium Acrylic Paint, a 4” roller, five 4.5”x6” foam sheets, twelve sheets of
5”x5” parchment paper, bubble wrap, yarn and punchinella.

In addition
to the kit, I used 4.5”x6” notecards and a couple of supplies that I always
carry with me in a pouch anyway: a ballpoint pen, a roll of washi tape, a water
brush and a couple of wax crayons or coloured pencils.

I like the
versatility of water soluble crayons and pencils because you can use them to colour
and draw with plus you can apply them as watercolour paint.

I also added
three colours of Gelli Arts® Premium Acrylic Paint just because there is room
for extra’s in the handy box the kit comes in!

Step 1

Slip a
ballpoint pen and the five 4.5”x6” foam sheets from the kit into your
art-on-the-go pouch. Take the bag with you on your next day trip and sketch
some of the landscapes and summer scenes you want to remember on the foam.

Of course,
you can sketch the scenes on plain paper first too. Or you can take a quick
photo and then create the line drawing later when you have a quiet moment.

Keep it
simple. You can always add more details later on!

Make sure
that you press the ballpoint pen firmly into the foam and retrace each line to
create a nice dent. Remember that the lines you draw are what is going to show
up in the monoprint.

Step 2

Once you’ve
created a couple of foam printing plates, it’s time to print!

Take a stack
of 4.5”x6” notecards.

Place your
Gelli Arts® gel printing plate on a smooth flat surface.

To assure
perfect alignment of the foam printing plates and the notecards, trace the
outline of one of your notecards onto your underpaper. Place the gel printing
plate on top of the rectangle.

If you’d
like to keep a clean white border along the edges of your prints then you have
a couple of options:

1. Mask all of the sides of your notecards with washi tape before
printing.

2. Place the
gel printing plate over the outline in a way that three sides of a notecard do
not touch the plate while printing.
This way you only have to mask the top edge of each notecard with washi tape.

3. Or, trim the
foam sheets to 3.5″ x 5” and line them up with the Gelli Arts® gel
printing plate instead of the notecard outline while printing. Then you don’t
have to mask off anything at all.

Step 3

Roll a drop
of acrylic paint onto the Gelli Arts® gel printing plate with the roller.  Roll the paint in a thin layer on the gel printing plate.

Step 4

Press the
foam printing plate into the paint.

Step 5

Use parchment paper to remove any excess paint from the gel printing plate.

Step 6

Remove the foam printing plate and place a notecard on the wet paint and pull a print.

Or
alternatively: remove the foam printing plate and leave the first image to dry
for a minute. Then cover your summer scene with contrasting paint colors,
place a notecard on the gel printing plate and pull the print.

Step 7

Leave your
prints as they are, or enhance them with (water soluble) wax crayons or
colored pencils.

Treat the
prints as coloring pages. You can take them with you in your art-on-the-go kit
and color them in on your next trip to the beach or the poolside!

Step 8

Once you are
happy with how your prints look, add them to your travel journal or frame them
to remind you of all the happy memories.

Or… write
about your summer adventures on the back and send them as a postcard to your
loved ones!

Enjoy
summer!!!

Materials

Gelli Arts®:

Gelli Arts® Stamping & Printing Kit

Gelli Arts®
Premium Acrylic Paint (Freshwater, Jet Black, Snowbound)

Other:

Ballpoint
pen

4.5”x6”
Notecards

Washi tape

Wax crayons
or coloured pencils

Optional:

Water brush

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All rights reserved.