Redbubble Shop and … Hares :-)

Hi there.  Hope you’re all well.  Haven’t posted on WordPress for a while but I’m still adding to my portfolio of work.

Yesterday saw the launch of a range of my art on a variety of products from mugs and phone cases to leggings and greeting cards!  Why not take a look and see if there’s something there for you – perhaps a unique throw cushion or a scarf.  I will be uploading a few more images over the next few days, but it’s so nice to think that others will be able to enjoy some lovely creations I made with lino, on the gelliplate and while doodling highly patterned nature designs.

Best wishes to you all xx

http://www.redbubble.com/people/jacquesart
   

The above print on recycled fabric was created by cutting an image in industrial lino (I had some offcuts) and then printing a texture using corn on the cob.  Sweet corn is fun to use as it makes a perfect shape for rolling in the ink without getting too messy!  I turned the design into a cushion cover with ties down the right hand side using small pieces of ribbon 🙂

Christmas Free Giveaway!!!!

Hi there everyone! Today, we set up the works’ 7ft 6″ Christmas tree in the foyer and it really put me in the festive mood. I thought this would be a good opportunity to offer one lucky person the opportunity to win a limited edition lino/gelli print of a hare that I printed this evening (the paint is still drying!!!).
To enter, all you need to do is either visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/squarebird.co.uk and comment after the relevant post beneath the hare print OR if you don’t use Facebook, comment at the bottom of this blog post why you think you should win it and whether it would be for yourself or a gift for someone else by midnight Friday 12th December (all time zones). Please check back Saturday to see who has won and it will be posted hopefully for you to receive it before Christmas. Yay!

Happy days!! 🙂

Oh, and here is a picture of the lino cut in progress and its first inking 🙂

The inked up plate just before I took the first ever print of the hare 🙂

Gelli Elephants blowing bubbles :-)

As well as making some stamps today out of clay, I found I was inspired to make a print of an elephant on my day off. First we went out for a scrumptious meal as we knew that our daughter wouldn’t be able to eat for a couple of hours after having some teeth out to prepare the way for braces. Obviously she wasn’t that interested in food today, but did manage some prawn crackers.

On our return from the dentist we considered watching the movie Water for Elephants – I love the fact that the elephant responds when the circus crew realise she doesn’t understand English. After a discussion, we opted instead of a James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig. It gave me time to do a bit of sewing and printing.

Don’t you just love those toe nails!

The October Gelli Blog Hop

Hi everyone! For those of you who are new to Gelli printing, I thought I’d share with you a technique that enables you to create textured prints with minimal effort and using basic equipment. Most Gelliprinters talk about printing with acrylics, but I actually love printing with watercolour and I’m going to tell you why in this blog as part of the October Gelli blog Hop, which kicked off by organiser and Gelli enthusiast, Michelle Reynolds.
Wednesday 15th Oct Michelle Reynolds http://shellsinthebush.blogspot.com.au/
Thursday 16th Oct Joanna Grant http://joannabananadesignoriginals.blogspot.com
Friday 17th Oct Jacques Williamos https://theelevatorpress.wordpress.com/
Saturday 18th Oct Linda Stokes http://www.lindastokes-textileartist.com/
Sunday 19th Oct Phillippa Montier http://pipart71.weebly.com
Monday 20th Oct Lauri Crowe http://www.laurijeancrowe.com
Tuesday 21st Oct Gail Schmidt http://www.shabbycottagestudio.net
Wednesday 22nd Oct Tami Sturm Howes http://www.thisandthatfromtami.blogspot.com

I belong to a Facebook group called Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts – a growing community of fantastic, creative people who just love printing with the Gelli.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/gelatinprintingenthusiasts/

So, why do I like using watercolours? The tubed variety obviously comes in gorgeous colours, but they blend easily and react differently on the plate. I have deliberately incorporated the speckled effect of watercolour by applying water to the plate to dilute the paint and then using the brayer to distribute it. I then allow the paint to settle and separate into areas of dots.

I started on the lion picture by applying the lighter colours first and building it up layer by layer.
A mask was cut out in the rough shape of a lion’s face. I’ve used this technique with the birds I’ve shown on this blog and most recently with the turtle. The mask blogs out any areas I don’t want that colour to appear on.

A screwed up piece of paper was the dabbed over the entire surface to create another texture and give some movement in the background.

Gradually the layers were built up enough to show an outline from the mask so that I could apply inks, coffee syrup and watercolour paint using an aqua brush pen (these are amazing as you can add water or paint, coffee syrup, ink to the reservoir of the pen handle). I love them!

When I was happy with the result of the lion and the paint was dry, I reapplied the mask over the image of the lion; added two bands of colour to my Gelli plate (Prussian blue, white, yellow ocre).

Again, I waited for the paint to separate slightly to create a natural texture.

The fact that some of my drawing was covered by the reapplied paint from the Gelli adds to the effect (a bit like when using a screen print). So this picture has five layers on it and if you run your finger over the finished print, there are raised areas.

Now to my free giveaway:
I am offering one lucky person the chance to win a turtle Gelliprint OR the lion I’ve show today. To enter, please comment below either ‘Lion’ or ‘Turtle’. I will select the winner next Friday. Good luck 🙂

Dragon Gelli

This dragon was created using three main acrylic colours. I still prefer working with watercolour on the plate and find my gelliplate is much easier to clean after printing has finished 🙂

The cat print and layering

Please note that all photographs and print images you view on this blog are copyright.

In printing we use the term ‘hicky’ when quality-controlling prints. The term refers to a blotch or imperfection found in the print and transferred via the roller of a lithographic printing press – basically when something has landed in the ink and created an unwanted impression. I can explain this a bit clearer on one of the example prints below. A few of the pepper seeds got caught up in the ink and on my roller from an earlier print. When I came to do a print from the lino over the top of my pepper gelliprint I could see the spots left by the seeds and some seeds still stuck in the paper. Obviously this could have been deliberate or intentional, however I didn’t want this effect on the cat print. Maybe you prefer it? Everyone’s taste is different. I’m glad it only occurred on one of them!

The first impression from the lino came out like this, using white acrylic on brown card:

I then played around with layers of colour using the gelliplate then overlaying the black inked lino

And here is a close up of that unwanted seed from the pepper:

Preparing my next lino cut …

This sketch outline is of a friend’s cat – a ginger and white long-haired puddy cat that is so pretty I just wanted to capture it forever in print.

On this occasion I’m using soft white lino. I prefer it (although it’s more expensive) as it doesn’t crumble so easily and is more flexible to manipulate.

Returning to gelliplate printing … I thought I’d show you all a couple of prints I made today which took several layers of inking from the plate to build up the print. Managed to get my twelve-year-old to have a go after I’d finished too.

This leopard was created using a masking template of ripping up textured paper that I had previously used for another print. Some of the dotty texture transferred from the paper to the gelliplate and back to the paper again. I then added a fine outline using a brown fine liner pen just to give the cat a bit of an outline.

This is a print from the textured paper which was applied to the plate after it had been inked up, then removed. The impression left in the gelliplate then transferred over to the paper.

Walk like a dinosaur …

Dinosaurs have been the topic of conversation today … and Scooby Doo! A colleague leaving work today is off to celebrate her birthday in the next few days and we stumbled upon dinosaurs as she was browsing through my sketchbook (I was doodling Betty Boo during my lunchbreak while sipping a tomato soup) and she asked if I drew dinosaurs. Well I thought, I’ll give it a go, but I went a step further and made a lino print for her 🙂

Now, I know not everyone has their own printing press, so I thought you might like to get your own hands covered in black ink and have a go at your own monoprints or lino cuts using things lying around your house that won’t cost too much. For example, you may have had linoleum put in the kitchen or bathroom. If you have offcuts from this, you could make a start on a lino cut. Over the next week or so, I’ll post some simple patterns which you could use to get you started, but I’m sure you could also find inspiration like I have done from objects found nearby as we are surrounded by shapes and patterns in fabrics, crockery, picture frames and so on that provide fantastic basis for designing.

On this occasion, I’ve used a terracotta piece of lino that came in a pack. This tends to crumble and creates powder, which means more clearing up compared to the white soft lino I’ve shown you with the gnome, dandelion and the houses in earlier posts.

As it’s dark outside and my side yard workshop doesn’t have electricity, I’ve done the prints indoors using a rolling pin (chased by my kitten) to press down on the gelli-plate or lino against the paper to create impressions and prints. Meanwhile, my husband has been busy working on my proper workshop space – transforming a garden shed (I’m so excited and he couldn’t wait to show my what he’d done while I was at work).

This is the sketched outline of my dinosaur, a stegosaurus 🙂

Cutting the lino using lino tools (which aren’t that expensive to buy). I used the same gauged tool throughout, but if I were creating an even bigger print, I would interchange the heads according to how much I planned to cut away.

I then played around with various acrylic colours on my gelliplate and added a few dandelions to provide a bit of texture.

Next I made several prints just using the dinosaur lino cut before putting the lino over a monoprint created from a gelliplate

All I’m going to add now is go and have fun. Try different textures and templates out and see what results you get. Some results may surprise you; some you might not like and some, I can assure you, you will love 🙂

Dog stamp and dandelion stamps

It’s an ex-colleague’s birthday and she has a dog that recently had an operation, so I crafted a lino cut, again 1.5 inches across to make her a token card. I experimented with adding a plain circle stamp to the page first, then applying the blackened lino cut over the top to create a sort of cameo.

Then I started playing around with pressing the lino into the Gelli-plate and then inking the stamp up and laying that directly on to the card to achieve different effects with the dog image being reversed.

Gelatin Plate Printing … Cows

Cows. I like them. I think of the brown ones that swish their tails to bat away the flies. I think of the black and white ones that laze in the sun and twitch their ears, often decorated with yellow plastic tags: an animal equivalent earring.

I’ve made a cow print using the side of my hand, finger tips and palm and I’ve drawn these onto a Gelli-plate using cotton buds. The sketch illustrates what the cow looked like to start with …