Durable Dura-Lar Bookmarks with Gelli Arts® and Grafix® by Helen O’Hara

Hello! It’s Helen here with a tutorial for really durable bookmarks with Gelli Arts® and Grafix®.

You may recall that I showed how to make bookmarks a while back using thin card and
freezer paper masks. You can see that post here. Today, I have a new and improved
technique for you using Dura-lar by Grafix.

One of the problems with paper bookmarks is that they get torn and
crumpled after a while. Not so with Dura-lar, which is similar to acetate that
you can paint on. I’m using the clear and translucent Dura-lar, which means I
can easily mask off my motif without using fiddly freezer paper. Watch the video
or read on to find out how.

As well as the matt and wet media Dura-lar, I’m using acrylic paints, a 9×12″ Gelli Arts® plate, combs and textures, rubber stamps, ink pad and
acrylic paint pens.

First cut the Dura-lar into bookmark sized strips. Use the ink pad and
stamps to print some motifs on one side – a Gelli Arts® plate makes a perfect
soft surface to work on. You can also try printing on motifs with lino blocks
and acrylic paint.

Once the motifs are totally dry turn, the bookmarks so the motif is FACE
DOWN and colour the motif from the back with paint pens. It doesn’t matter if
you go over the lines or make a mistake, it will easily rub off whilst the
paint is still wet. If you don’t have paint pens you can colour the motifs with
acrylic paint and a brush. Let the bookmarks dry fully.

Now it’s time to add a mono-printed background. Keep working on the BACK
of the bookmark. Roll some paint onto the Gelli® plate and make marks and patterns.
Lay the bookmark with the MOTIF FACE UP (the colouring you just did touching
the Gelli® plate) and pull the print. You can do this a couple of times to
build up layers.