My Blog Hop post & giveaway

Posted on
Welcome to the Gelatin Printing Enthuiasts Facebook Group blog hop. It's my turn to post today so I thought I'd share how I make post cards from my Gelli prints. They could be on paper or fabric, but the prints I'm using here were done on iron-on interfacing as shown on the Gelli website. You print on the non glue side and you will need a slightly thicker layer of paint on the Gelli plate because of the translucency of the interfacing. My giveaway is 1 of these postcards, a small thermofax screen (see end of post) and some other related goodies - enter by leaving a comment - an extra entry if you subscribe to my blog and let me know in your comment. I'll draw the winner on the 4th November.

Although I love Gelli printing on paper, my main media is textiles so I like to use stitch and fabric as well as print in my work. The advantage of using iron-on interfacing is that it's so easy to assemble the shapes and fix them down on the base simply by ironing.

Here I've chosen the background and cut out the elements of my design.

I'm using acrylic felt as the base, cut to size 6" x 4"

Here, I've ironed the background pieces of printed interfacing onto the felt. Put in place, cover with baking paper to protect your iron and the fabric and iron for about 10 seconds until bonded. Then place your design pieces and repeat the iron process.

Trim off any overhanging pieces, then the next step is stitching which I do by lowering the feed dogs of my sewing machine and free motion stitching around the design to add detail.
To finish the face of the postcard, I added a little more stitching and painted highlights on the flower with acrylic paint. Then finished the edges with a satin stitch. The back is a piece of card or thick paper. I iron it on with vliesofix then stitch around the edge with a zigzag or buttonhole stitch.

Left is another finished postcard and right is some leftover pieces ironed onto a backing ready to stitch.

This is a thermofax screen similar to the giveaway screen. It is basically a small silkscreen and comes with instruction for use. Hope you'll visit the other blogs (listed below) in the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Blog Hop and good luck in the giveaways!
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , .

50 Comments

  2. Hi Linda thanks for sharing your postcard processes. Do you take part in postcard and ATC swaps by any chance? I’ve really enjoyed taking part in this blog hop 🙂

  5. Thanks for the mini tutorial. As a fabric postcard swapper and a new Gelli plate owner, this is perfect for me. Happy to pay the postage to NZ if i am the lucky winner. Thanks, Marina

  7. Thank you so much for sharing your techniques! I love textiles, although paper is what I use mostly. I’ve subscribed to your blog…don’t want to miss anything!

  11. Hi Linda
    I’ve been following your old blog and just managed to find your new website. Looks very swish! I’d be interested to know why you swapped from Blogger to WordPress?
    Thanks for an interesting blog – I have not tried gelli printing onto interfacing, but the results look great.

    • Hi Hilary, nice to catch up again! I changed to WordPress because my daughter offered to make a new website for me which included the blog. I was also finding it increasingly difficult to upload photos to my old blog.
      I’m still learning how to use WordPress but it good to have everything together. Regret losing a lot of people who followed before though.

      • What a wonderful daughter!
        I have to say I think the new site does look a lot better – cleaner, sharper – not that I thought before hand that your old blog didn’t look good! I have yet to get a website and have been pondering – most people seem to think wordpress is best. But I am lacking the clever daughter!
        Hope your followers find you again. Maybe it is worth carrying on with both blogs for a while giving the link to the new on the old – as you have been doing. It is how I re-found you.

  12. I’m an art teacher in Texas and I’ve just discovered your site! I love your colors, medium, and most of all, your artist eye! Beautiful work! You make me want to drag out my sewing machine and get reacquainted! I’ve introduced Gelli printing to all 700 students at the elementary school I teach at and at my summer art camps. They are hooked! Thank you for sharing your talent!!!

  13. A whole new world for me. But your instructions and beautiful pieces have piqued my interest in learning all about using fabrics and transfer methods with the Gelli plate. Thank you. ( love your bags!)

  14. absolutely fabulous. I just subscribed to your blog…and your instagram!!
    What a great idea to use fusible interfacing.
    Time to check out the rest of the blog hop.

  16. thank you for sharing this technique! I am always looking forward to more ways to incorporate art into sewing and quilting.

  18. Your work is wonderful. I have mountains of fabric and this adds another dimension to the world of painting/sewing, fabrics, gelli printing, and adventure. I am also subscribing to your blog.
    Thank you for the wonderful information.

  19. There is so much to see and learn from this group and new goodies wouldn’t hurt my feelings either. Thanks for sharing!

  22. Thanks everyone for your lovely comments! The interfacing I mostly used is a medium weight – I did 1 on a lighter weight which seemed to work just as well but is a bit more transparent. I found it best to do a few layers of print to get good strong colours. By the way, for those who don’t sew or work with fabric, you can also iron the interfacing onto paper.

  23. Thank you for the great info in this blog post. I subscribed to your blog before I read it, because your work looks so fantastic!

  24. Love the postcards, what a great way to do them. Don’t know much about thermofax but looks like I have to learn! Thanks for sharing

  28. Beautiful! I don’t have a sewing machine (yet) but I’m researching good starter machines and hope to have one soon. Do you have to use any particular needle to go through thicker projects like this one or will any sharp needle work? Thanks for sharing your technique! I’m excited to give this a try someday!

  30. This is truly inspiring work. I love how you took us step by step and I am new to many of the materials used. I have yet to try printing with my gelli on textiles, but this is having me dream of a quilt in my future. Gorgeous details. You are one talented artist.

  31. Wow, that is amazing! I bought the interfacing, but haven’t tried it yet. Now I can’t wait. Thank you for sharing.

  32. Dear Linda. Your work is beautiful, and I would like to learn how to do gelli printing. I use to live near you in Roley and you made me some screens. I moved in the meantime and neat to contact you, but if I try to e-mail you through your blog it won’t work. Will you please send me an e-mail to my e-mail adress, and then I will just reply on that. Regards Maria

  34. Thank you for your blog. Never thought of using fabric this way. I will share this with my friend who is much better at textiles than me. I subscribed too, want to see what else you do.
    Thanks,
    Julia

  38. Thanks for the postcard making steps – LOVE every creative direction you are going! I would also love to win a postcard and/or thermo screen.

  40. Hi Linda
    Postcards look great – love to try with the thermofax as haven’t done that for many years – a friend used to have a print gocco machine – are they still around?

  42. You’ve made me want to rush off and get my Gelli plateout and start playing! What a great idea for making postcards and for a base for Gelli print work. There are so many ways to use the plate, it’s never ending! Thank you for running this giveaway, I particularly love the butterfly thermofax. I’ve signed up for your blog so I don’t miss any future posts and inspiration.

  43. Hi Linda – Love your art and of course have to enter your giveaway! I also subscribed so that I won’t miss anything you post. Your pieces in the Designing Women exhibition are all beautiful – congratulations on such a lovely array of work. I have never worked with a thermofax screen so it would be great to try it out. Cheers, Deb

Leave a Reply to Nita Waters Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.