Stitching it all together

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to stitch all my gelli printed pages together into a little art journal. So, at the weekend, I finally sat down to make my first journal. So I took out my little box of bookbinding tools which I had bought in London last year, and started with the first step - folding all the sheets in half with the help of a bone folder.

The next step was to put the sheets together into signatures, and then punch holes through all of them using a hole-punching tool (I used my lovely awl with its smooth and shiny wood handle).

I decided to use this beautiful red waxed thread instead of the simple white one. I just hoped that it would be long enough, as it was already cut.

I started with my stitching following the instructions from an online course I had taken last year. But the instructions were for three holes, and as I had punched four holes into my sheets, this was just too confusing to start with. So I got out my three books on making books. One of them didn't have the coptic stitch I wanted, and with the other two, I just couldn't make head or tail of it. I really like the design of Esther K. Smith's How to Make Books, but I gave up on the instructions already after step 2. So I googled stitching techniques for a video tutorial I would understand. This one seemed quite useful, but it started with attaching the cover to the first signature, and as I didn't have a cover, I just couldn't figure out the technique without one. At the end, this instruction was the one that worked for me.

When I bought my bookbinding basic tools last year, I bought both ordinary straight needles and curved needles. I had started stitching my journal with a stright needle, as the curved ones looked a bit scary, but some time after the second or third signature, I began to realise the advantage of a curved needle. It made the looping bit much easier, but in general still felt very akward to use.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if I did it the right way, but at the end, I had stitched all my signatures together, and although I hadn't tightened the thread evenly, it was all holding together and not looking too bad.

What I like about this stitch is that the journal lies flat, which makes working in it much easier, especially if you want to paint in it.

I decided to add a cover to my book, a wrap-around one, using the sheet of paper I had used to clean my roller on while doing the printing. I just improvised, and stitched it on somehow. It's not quite straight, and I'm not sure if I will keep it on.

So here's my finished little journal. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll be using it for. Not for painting, but maybe for noting down quotations and special memories and such. And I'll definitely be making more journals.

Gelli printing

We've been having a bit of a heat wave here this past week or two, and unfortunately, I'm not made for high temperatures. When the temperatures climb to over 30 degrees, I just don't want to move at all anymore. I don't even feel like painting any more. But yesterday, I decided to pull myself together. I didn't want to miss yet another Paint Party Friday. So I got out my Gelli plate, and started some printing. I can't believe that this is actually only the second time I've used my plate since I got it, and that the first time was over 4 months ago!

I kept to a limited colour palette and made very simple prints with just one layer of paint, and two or three different stencils. After having printed almost 20 sheets of paper, I cut a bit of the top and bottom off each sheet, and then printed the back of all of them. Eventually, I want to bind them all together into a little journal.

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

Hope you're staying cool.

Playing with my new Gelli Plate

I've been reading about this new gel printing place everywhere on blogs, but as it was something that, as it seemed, was only available in the States, at the moment, I decided to just ignore it. But it was a MONO PRINTING plate, and printing is something I've longed to do for ages, but without much success to put into practise (the printing workshop I signed up for last year was cancelled, probably because of lack of interest). So I couldn't resist for long, and finally ordered one. And I've been longing to try it out - and completely forgot about it last weekend, as I was too busy painting my easter eggs!

Today I finally sat down with my plate to try it out. The planned decluttering for today just had to wait for a bit. I looked for some tutorials on YouTube first to get an idea of how to get started, and found a whole number of useful videos. This introduction by Roben-Marie Smith I found quite useful:

Carolyn Dube of A Colourful Journey has a whole range of tutorials on  YouTube. She's also running a Gelli printing workshop, which starts soon and which I'm sure will be very inspiring.

Here's a few more useful and inspiring links that help to get you started: Gelli Arts on YouTube, mybasketofscraps, artistcellar, Jane Davis. And here's even a tutorial of how to make your own alternative printing plate, if you can't get an original one, by Jennibellie.

Getting everything ready. A virgin gel plate, ready to be messed around with.

The first print. Room for improvement...

Adding another layer makes an improvement, and that's where I should have left it. But I added some more layers, after which some of the first details were lost. But that's the fun with this plate. It's so quick and easy, that you can just keep printing, trying out what works, and what doesn't, and finding out which techniques you prefer.

I kept experimenting all morning, producing a whole pile of sheets, playing with colours and layers, and different stamps.

Here I used a rubber stamp with leaves, which I had carved myself some time ago.

I especially like these two, the colours, and the layers and textures.

Linking up to the wonderful and inspiring Paint Party Friday. 

Have a terrific Easter Weekend!

Linking this also to Carolyn Dube's Gelli Print Party, a great place to share your prints and projects.