Hare print from a Big Mistakes Eraser

I bought a ‘Big Mistakes’ eraser a while back and have been wondering for ages what to draw on it so that I could do some carving.  

I guess I’m going through a bit of a ‘hare and rabbit obsession’ lately, what with buying a baby dwarf rabbit and watching her binkie around the living room; watching her ears twitch and turn as she listens out for unfamiliar noises.  They sure are fascinating creatures.  

Yesterday, the family went to a wooded estate where deer were enjoying the sunshine and shade.  I could have decided on a deer for my print – maybe next time!

So out came the pencil and I sketched a hare, then taking the smallest cutting took from my lino cutters,  I carved away the layers of rubber to reveal my hare.  I have a rainbow ink pad and used this to take some first impression prints.  This was the third impression:

   
     

Bunny sketch on marble print

Random Craft Swap

How much do you love receiving gifts in the mail? Do you clutch the unopened envelope for ages and try and guess what’s inside? What about receiving something handcrafted? The person sending has taken a lot of thought into creating something special and unique. They’ve considered what the other person might like. When I started on a craft to swap I went over to Gladeridercrafts blogger’s page – check it out as there’s some gorgeous stitching on there! We did a random craft swap this week and I was so excited when my craft packet arrived.

Isn’t it lovely? Thank you so much Gladeridercrafts 🙂

Also this week, I opened the post at work to find my OH had sent me a large padded envelope with the word fragile written on it! I would never have guessed what was inside…a box of Matchmakers – I love these chocolates!

It made me giggle just like a few years ago when I had a postie calling card to collect a packet from the depot. When I arrived with my ID, the postman looked at me apologetically as he handed over the mail.
‘Should it feel like that?’ He asked.
I admit it did feel as though the contents had smashed. Also, as I hadn’t ordered or been expecting anything, I had no idea what it was. The contents shifted and chinked beneath the padded envelope. I gulped.
Finally, As I sat in the car, I opened the packet to find 200 buttons of all different colours (nothing broken or smashed) inside. Lovely!

So, what have I posted out this week? Well two lucky people received handprinted fabric goodies: an ATC

and an expanding notebook

That was fun 😀

Printing with sweetcorn

OK, I’ve tried printing with apples, peppers, leaves, buttons, feathers and various garage paraphernalia such as nails, washers, wire mesh and even cutlery, so why not corn on the cob?

The great thing about printing with corn on the cob is that it acts and feels like a textured rolling pin! Rolling it over the paint in the gelliplate pushes the paint away from the plate and onto the cob, leaving a lighter coloured pattern against the darker background. I like this texture almost as much as bubblewrap impressions and it’s made me look at the grocery store in a whole new light!

This is the impressions made without any added embellishments, stencils or further textures.

This is the sort of effect you can achieve by adding simple spirals and different layers of colour.

Hares … A new craze for me!

Happy first of the month everyone! I’ve been busy creating art with hares being the main feature recently. This includes doodling at work during my short lunch break!

..and another that I really love, just because it took me ten minutes to do and I like the expression:

Then I wanted to explore making a large gelliprinted collage of a hare using feathers, sweet peppers, bottle tops and gel pens on a large board:

Hard to know when to stop really, so I began doodling in my journal for February 1st in memory of my rabbit Pom Pom who sadly passed away at the end of last month and I don’t think we will be able to find another as placid and quiet as she was. Just as the dandelions dance away on the breeze, I hope she’s happily hopping over lush green pastures.

Salvador Dali

Just over two years ago, I had the fun of exploring an exhibition of Salvador Dali in Italy.  Famous for his melting clocks, I was intrigued by this man and his creative moustashes and quirky quotes.  Some can be found on http://www.brainyquote.com

Years ago, I studied Art History and we did a module on abstract art, surrealism, cubism and I admit that it wasn’t my favourite thing.  To link with the Art History, we also had to produce a surreal piece of art work; I created something in pen which was part sheep.  I dare say it’s hidden in the depth of my loft now and I’m still embarrassed by it.  So, what does one need to be able to produce something surreal or fantastical?  My mother always said I had a vivid imagination!

I didn’t do a surreal piece tonight, I did a portrait using a Sharpie pen of the man himself, in lino (see above) and to put a twist on it, when it prints, it will print in reverse.  How about that?!

As you can see, there’s a bit more cutting to do, but you get the idea 🙂

Glorious Daffodils

What’s your favourite flower? Do you go for the colour or romantic connotations of red roses.
With Valentine’s Day approaching and my 24th Wedding Anniversary, I bought some daffodils. Their buds were still tightly closed and we’ve had frosts most mornings. Yesterday, the buds began to open, so I set to work on creating my latest print.
I sketched an outline of three daffodils and cut them out in sections

I then took out my square gelli plate and pulled off a background print of blue

You can see the blue here; I’ve done other layers of colour and removed the flowers
Several layers later, I began embellishing the print with a white gel pen and black fine liner

Doesn’t it make you feel like spring’s on its way?

Pepper foam stamps

This was interesting: carve into a foam cube and hope it looks like something once ink has been applied!
I chose to do a set of peppers. One whole one; one cut in half plus some chilli peppers. On another side I also sketched out some peppers growing among leaves, but for now this seems a bit complicated to cut out with the tool I have available.

Will share some more pictures tomorrow, but before I say goodnight, how about this for making prints

My daughter didn’t seem all that impressed when I asked if I could borrow her shoes to do some prints of the sole!

This imprint was spotted this morning on my driveway after a frosty start. I think it would be a bit excessive to remove a car tyre just to make a Gelli print. What do you think?

Another day; another stamp

There’s a deer park not far from where we live. I love to see them out, dipping their antlers. They also look so graceful when the snow’s falling.
I did a very quick biro sketch and then created a smaller version on a 2cm x 1cm white rubber.

Now, eleven stamps later, I have enough to put inside a shape:

This was a bit of fun as I was able to display all the stamps I’ve created so far :-).

Interview

Tonight, loyal followers and likers, I am delighted to be the guest on http://greeneearthoriginals.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gelli-printing-guest-post-3-with.html
and being interviewed about my gelliprinting. Hope you take time to read it; comment and get inspired 🙂
Some of the images shown in the interview are also found in my recently printed book on printing: