Gelatine printing on paper

The childrens art workshops this month were a lot of fun experimenting with different textures and paints.

We did gelatine printing on paper, but this kind of printing can also be done on fabric.

I think the prints done on fabric could become a quilt or cushion cover. I love some of the subtle colours, but the bold bright colours are wonderful too.

An autumn print done with pastel colours.

I asked the children to bring different materials to print with: feathers, leaves, different textured papers,lace,string.

I have a lot of stencils, so we used those as well.

The prints can be used for further art work and I encouraged the children to think of a way how to use the prints by layering or cutting the images or colouring the images with different art materials.

I really like them to make the decisions, I just offer ideas and enough good art materials for them to use and explore with.

                                                                     Some bold apple prints.                                                                                       

The gelatine printing base last for about two weeks kept in the fridge and I added a little bleach to the mixture before I poured the gelatine into the trays.
I used aluminium foil baking trays bought at the "Two dollar" shop in Motueka.

Stencils and leaves print

After printing cracks can appear in the gelatine, but instead of making a new lot I just melt the gelatine base in the microwave and pour it again into the trays.
Skim the airbubbles of with a strip of newspaper, because the printing base needs to be really smooth for printing.

Art work on top of a print

Some of the children designed their own images and one of the boys made a deer stencil.
I talked about negative and positive spaces and the prints are a great tool for explaining this concept.

Stencil of  a deer cut by one of the boys

Most of the recipes how to make a gelatine printing base I found on the internet are from the States and they have different brands and packaging then in New Zealand.
I will give my recipe and it works really well.
Please do not pour the gelatine down the sink, it will block the drains. I will dispose my gelatine base in the compost bin.

Busy working

A leaf art work on top of a print

The gelatine  base with a print in it.

Bubble wrap and shapes

The recipe for a gelatine printing base:

• Pour 250ml of hot water into a measuring cup and add 8 tablespoons of gelatine powder.
• Stir briskly with a fork until dissolved.
• Pour 750ml of water with a little bleach into the tray and add the dissolved gelatine and stir.
• Air bubbles will appear on the surface, use a strip of newspaper to slide over the surface of the gelatine and take the airbubbles of. You want a smooth surface for printing.
• Let the gelatine set overnight in the fridge.  

Use a brayer or paint roller, I used cheap foam paint rollers, to spread the acrylic  paints onto the gelatine base, lay the materials on the paint and place your paper on top and use a clean paint roller to print the image onto the paper.
I think the gelatine printing is really exciting and I will try some more on fabric to make my own cushion cover, maybe colourful autumn leaves.

Easter Bird nests made from Cabbage Tree leaves.

Close up with a decoupaged egg in the shabby chic nest

This coming Thursday I am part of organizing a morning tea for the elderly in our village and because Easter is this weekend I like to have some different Easter decorations on the tables.

All the visitors will get a little Easter gift bag with chocolate eggs  from my friend Jean volunteering as the Easter Bunny.

In New Zealand the Cabbage tree is part of the New Zealand landscape and a native tree.

Also many gardens have Cabbage Trees, my garden has the cultivated smaller Cabbage trees.

The leaves are tough and the tree sheds its leaves and often those are dried up and also great to use as a fire lighter to start the wood burner.

The small wreaths made from Cabbage Tree leaves

 I collected some leaves and wove those into small wreaths. I used a spray can to spray the wreaths gold.

Coloured feathers.

Shabby chic bag tutorial " Where William Morris and Paris meet".

The view out of my studio on a rainy day!

Last Sunday we had rain after 6 weeks of no rain and this was a perfect day to do some sewing.
I spend most of the day in my studio behind the sewing machine making a shabby chic bag.
The image on the fabric is from a decoupage sheet I bought at Spotlight and I transferred the image with
"Picture This" Transfer medium for light and dark fabrics.
I cut out the image from the sheet and then covered the front with the medium.
 I placed it down onto the fabric and I let the image dry for a couple of days.
I wet the back of the image with a damp sponge and very carefully rubbed of the paper backing till all the paper fluff was gone.
Next I found some of my old lace and pearl buttons and some glass beads and I sewed the different laces around the image.

The next stage was looking for some nice material for the bag and in my stack of materials I found a piece of Liberty material with the "Strawberry Thief" print, one of William Morris designs.
I think Paris and William Morris go well together, so the decision was made to use this piece of fabric.
With a fine zigzag stitch I sewed my lace pieces onto the fabric.
Then I decorated with the buttons and beads and sewed the piece onto the front of the bag with a fine zigzag stitch.

On Sundays our local quilt shop in Mapua is open till 3 pm and I dashed out quickly to get a small piece of French print fabric before closing time. The rain came down in buckets and the village looked deserted, but the lady in the quilt shop said she had a busy day, so I think more sewers did the same thing and worked away behind their machines and came out to get some quick supplies.

I cut out a small piece of the "French" fabric and ironed some interfacing on the back.
Then I sewed it onto the back of the bag piece with a fine zigzag stitch again.

Next I choose I heavy weight material for the lining of the bag and used my trusted over locker to sew the two lining pieces together.

The bag needed a handle, so I cut a wide strip of fabric, ironed the strip and then folded the first part to the center, then the second part to the center and then folded the piece double and sewed the handle together on the right side of the fabric.
 This way I don't need to turn the handle inside out anymore, what I hate doing.
Next I made a fabric fastener in the same way as the handle, but used a much smaller strip of fabric.
I sewed the bag together with the right sides facing then turned the bag the right way out and placed the lining inside the bag.
Next I folded the lining and the top of the bag neatly together and pinned the handle and a fabric fastener in place and then carefully sewed around the top of the bag.
To strengthen the handles and fastener I sewed a few extra times over the placement of the handle and fastener.
Lastly I sewed the big pearl button on, so I can close the bag.

Voila! A shabby chic bag made on a rainy Sunday!!