Explorations with Gelli Plate & Deli paper

GELLI -DELI first steps with Shelagh Folgate

So what is all the fuss about?
Gelli plates
Deli paper

What are they? what do you do with them?

Gelli plates.  These are the modern version of MONO PRINTING plates.

Monoprinting - you can you plastic, polythene, glass.  Real printing is done on rubber that has give, so neoprene (wet suits) would work very well too.
Gelli plates can be made from gelatine, there are many instructions across the web, great for a couple of sessions as the gelatin does go 'off'

Gelli plates are expensive but if looked after will last for yonks....

DELI PAPER - this is very strong translucent paper with varying degrees of wax on one or both sides depending upon the make.
The make I am selling is not too waxy.  This is an advantage, in this series I will cover why in a later freebie.

FIRST STEPS

 These are the supplies that I used for the pieces below.
Wooden stamps  & metallic paint from colouricious.  Speedball brayer
Rubber stamps from thethreadstudio.  These are a one off, any rubber stamp will work.  A piece of large bubble wrap

 Deli on the Gelli - Roll paint onto the gelli plate or your monoprinting plate.
The paint I have used is suitable for textiles, I have found through many years of experimentating through teaching City & Guilds that not all acrylic paints are equal.

I use good quality paints - always, the cheap ones are thin and smell awful.  I think that you get what you pay for.
These are excellent, I also like the screen printing paints from thermofaxscreens.co.uk.  System 5 acrylics or any good quality make
Good paints have better light fastness.

 

 Make sure that you roll the paint thinly and lightly, this takes a time to get right, but Deli paper is cheap

TIP....Start with the lightest colour, I started with GOLD
All of my paints used here are metallic.  Opaque and transparent paints will be covered in a later freebie

 I rollered my paint and using a SOFT straw I wrote BACKWARDS onto the paint and laid the Deli over using the side with the creased centre, the least waxy side of my Deli paper

 I rollered & then pressed a wooden stamp into the paint
Then added the Deli and smoothed the back with my hands
I then restamped the Deli with the same stamp

 Deli paper is translucent, this has the great advantage of this is that if the back is coloured it will show through to the front, this is what has happened here.  Turquoise stamp on one side and then gold and red on the other

 Writing & stamping and overstamping and colouring the back

 Printing onto the rubber stamp mat, then overprinting & colour the back

 Printing onto the Gelli plate 3 different times to LAYER up effects and then using the large bubble wrap and copper on the reverse, see how the circles show through

 Multi layers of printing and stamping

These pieces are First steps, collage, stitching etc to come

Although this is about Deli paper these effects can be achieved on fabric too


Enjoy playing.

www.studioapatchshe.co.uk
www.patchworkfabricuk.co.uk

DELI PAPER

 SUPPLIES:
Pearl ex pigments (mica powder, lots of other makes)
Remember all those Markal (Shiva) sticks you bought, here is an ivory black one
Koor-i-noor WATER based paints
Bubbles stencil
Home made stencil (not shown)
Mica sprays from thethreadstudio.com (not shown)

Oh yes you can use water based media with my Deli paper!!

To start... this is a plain sheet of Deli, sprayed with mica sprays through the bubbles stencil
Blotted with another piece
The spray bubbles up and sits on the top, it will eventually dry but I am impatient so I botted it off onto a piece from Deli first steps and left that to dry
I folded over the paper to get positive and negative image

 

 

 This is the other side, nice effects

Markal paintsticks (SHiva) are oil paint in a stick, oil paint sticks beautifully to Deli

So below I have placed the square bubbles stencil UNDER the deli and dragged the markal over the top lightly

 Terrific effect

 Here is a close up of another piece

 Yet another piece over a flower stencil, I am leaving these to cure for a couple of days

 This is the plain piece from the start of this mini tutorial.  I have rubbed over a stamp that I made from carpet & sealed with acrylic paint, the pile on the carpet congeals a makes fab texture
I rubbed with water soluble crayon

This is the piece above painted with Koor-i-noor, which is water paint with a high pigment.  Remember that the water will bubble up and sit on the top, ah ha, if you dip your brush into mica powder, it will stick the paint to the Deli.  NOt seen that anywhere on the web eh!!!  The image above is the reverse of the deli
The image below is the front
The paper is creased because I dried it with a hair dryer.  I could now iron it flat but I dont want a smooth piece

I could now add these back to the Gelli plate..... and then there is stitch...


STITCH
Explorations with the marvellous Deli paper.  You can purchase it by clicking on this link...  www.patchworkfabricuk.co.uk
Out of stock at the moment, contact for waiting list.
Alternatively can be purchased from
www.thethreadstudio.com 

A few years back, I taught card making & have a huge supply of 'stuff' but I have returned to my love of stitching & I now use my stuff in a creative stitchy way.

In the first two Deli freebies on this blog, I have shown some ways of using Deli for surface design.  The piece above is created with those pieces and Khadi paper & fabric from my shop

Here is Deli paper.  For this freebie I have used it plain & also scrunched

SCRUNCHING - All papers can be scrunched.  Paper is actually a non woven type of cloth.  When the paper is scrunched the fibres break down & become soft.
Scrunching takes time, you must be gentle with the Deli until it becomes quiet!
When you scrunch it first it is very noisy.  Scrunch into a ball & then open up and smooth, do this time and again, lots of times, until it becomes quiet, you will know when you reach that stage

STITCHING -

Here I have machine sewn with a fine needle (60) & black thread top & bobbin on a single layer at the top (red)) & double, well you can see where it is double, it has not been stitched on the coloured fabric, that is just there so it shows up for you
Straight stitch 3. 4. 5 mm
Zig zag 2 + 2. 5 + 5.
The word is freeform stitching,darning foot.

Freeform on one layer of Deli, note the tear at the end, this was because I stitched round and round on the spot and then pulled the work from the machine
There are no tears & the Deli remains translucent.

Here is the scrunched Deli, again one layer only, the first row is straight stitch heavy, the second row is 5 + 5 zigzag & the third row freeform.  The exploring Deli is also freeform
The Deli was not ironed, I could have done that, but I wanted the scrunched effect to show that it is still translucent.

Visit www.studioapatchshe.co.uk or www.patchworkfabricuk.co.uk