My Gelli Plate Workshops

As you may or may not know I have been having a lot of trouble with my Google Blogger, to the point where I couldn't use it - still can't except off Blogsy in my IPad it doesn't work on anything else and often the photos don't go through. Anyway I was about to write on my Crafters Blg and found a fair few posts that had never actually posted, this is one of them so I thought I would post it now as I kiss my running my Gelli Plate classes but am working out how And when I can get going n teaching again. So hi all my Class Buddies ! 

Hi there, its been a while since I wrote on my Crafters Only Blog but I thought I would take the opportunity to use it as a Gallery for my Gelli Plate/Mixed Media Workshops. 

 

I always get really nervous just before one of my Gelli Sessions, when you are taking money off people you have to know that you are giving something worthwhile back.  To even charge people at all was very difficult for me in the beginning, I kept saying "are you sure you are happy paying this"??   Lack of Self confidence and all that does rear its ugly head from time to time.  In fact every time I am preparing for one of my classes.  But actually I think that is a good thing, its what keeps me on my toes, in all walks of life there is always room for improvement.  So if it  helps me sleep at night its a positive thing not a negative one.  I put my all into finding something to give back, i.e. new techniques, ideas and different ways of looking at things. (hence the 3 days of stress) .

Hi Rena Oooh  nice hair style. xx

This is Rena's print, this print doesn't do it justice, it looks nice here but its even richer when you see it in the flesh.

Look at the depth of shadow that Rena got in this after just one lesson with Charcoal, she was away with it.  I could tell she was impressed with her work and so she should be I love this.  

I do tend to talk about products a fair bit - I do love to try out new products, I love to see what they do or don't do, so I do know what I am talking about most of the time. But for people who just want to craft around that table for my one monthly session then it helps a lot for them to be able to go straight to the product that will "do the job properly", they don't want to spend a lot of time and money on things they won't use, they just want to go straight to the products they will use.

And here is the Birthday Girl, Happy Birthday Dorothy xx
This is the Lady Barbara was talking about on C&C on Sunday

This is where we were learning to Frame things, or fill in gaps on the prints you didn't think you could do anything with "Until Now" x All the techniques were just  a practice for when altering cards and applying to Journal Pages.

And I know I bang on about it but to me, Colour is everything.

I like to do a kind of Gelli Plate Warm Up.  Get some dregs on there and get your crafting juices flowing. We were making a card initially but everyone liked their prints with the shadowing so much that they didn't want to put them onto cards, so we just finished off the blending and shading and kept them as a full print. 

Then we did a Journal Project using our left over prints.  This is why I gave out Journals early on in my Classes so that we could have a little play with techniques every month. So we have ongoing projects in there and we can come back to them at the end of each session and add a few more techniques.

Here is Andy, I think that might be my gorgeous print you are holding up there Andy???
Oh actually no, I think its yours. Knickers!!!  xxx

To see how quickly and how well Rena picked up the Charcoal effects /ideas and what it achieved was so lovely to see, and to show how many ways you can use one good print, and how you can

 re-vamp one not so good print is really what its all about for me.  I have said it before, I might not always produce the best card myself, but I do feel I can teach people enough to produce their best card or at least put the idea into their head that they can do a lot more in crafting than they realised.

Now Andy this would make a great Journal backing page.

 I know this is Dorothy's because she was using the small Gelli Plate
See how those edges top and bottom just become part of the print, it would be
sacrilege to cut them off. So I told her to frame it and sell it, keep it I mean keep it!!!xxx

I enjoy sharing what I have learnt, found out for myself, and remember from my Mam Teaching me all those years ago.  Oh Boy I wish I had discovered this Craft World a bit earlier because my Mam would have loved it.

 So then we did a little bit of Gelli meets Journal and we used houses Hand Drawn by my Sister Margaret! thanks Margaret. So we cut them out and placed them on the Gelli Plate, you could Gelli them up first then cut out either way works, its what you do with them after that really counts.

 

Mine is an on-going project too. 

I have been drawing some "Stix To" people lately, as I can't draw this is my way of communicating!!
I have a little booklet waiting to be done from our Clarity Design Team trip to France, this reminds me of a village
we visited in France.  On this occasion its just a little Sam Stix To teaching Gelli Plate meets Mixed Media.

So this is for the Journals we started and bring along to the class each week as a Techniques Book so when our projects are finished, if we have a little time left we use some of our prints in our Journals and I teach what techniques I use, and then we can practice them.  This bit of the session is lovely because we just chill and chat.

 

 

This No.2 is made using the Clarity Wheelie Grunge Letters

We worked on the basics of colour and backgrounds.

 

Then on adding patter, and using the Tissue Paper Technique

I have discovered a new product to use with this method so I will

be trying it out a bit more.

 

 

But the main focus of it all is still the Gelli Plate and we will be definitely adding more stamping to it and a bit of that lovely Grunge Paste!!!

 

When you are open minded and don't think too much about what you are making who know's what you can achieve. OK so Photo Frame on the IPhone helped with this one but still????

 

 Unfortunately Jayne Davies  has broken her thumb and couldn't come and something unexpected came up for Margaret Iddon, which is a shame because she had been looking forward to coming and had already packed her kit.  I also have a Mother and Daughter who attend but couldn't make it on this occasion and a few other people who are hoping to get to one in the future.  So for now, I am very happy with my little group we get on well, we enjoy what we are doing and we are getting sillier and sillier the more we get to know each other - YES I DID NOTICE!!!!XXX

I would like to thank Rena and Jayne for starting this little childish but funny tradition of hiding behind the Artwork, I said I at least needed their hair in the picture so that I know its not my own work that I can sell!!!! Ha Ha would I????

So if you nip on here, thanks thank you for visiting please call again.

Sam xxx