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Welcome! I’m Carolyn Dube – This colorful journey is all about the freedom of play!

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The Fine Print

Some of the links on this blog are affiliate links and I receive a small percentage. It doesn't cost you anything extra and helps keep all the free tutorials and videos coming! It's a win-win! The website is copyright Carolyn Dube, and that is kinda common sense since this is my site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Gel Printing with Action Figures

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Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Just about anything can be used for pattern making on a gel plate including toys! Just ask Malcolm Reynolds, the action figure from Firefly that made the pattern walking across the paint. Why him?  Because of his shoes.  Why did I need that?  You’ll see in the video!

Watch Making patterns on a gel plate with a toy action figure on YouTube.

Want to know more about gel printing? I’ve got a page full of techniques and tutorial including getting started step-by-step and even my husband making a print. Check it out here.

The paints are Golden Open.  These are designed to stay open, or workable, longer than regular acrylic paint.  The benefit is that it stays wet longer so no rushing to take a pull.  The drawback is that it takes prints a long time to dry by my standards.

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

The song, One Foot by Walk the Moon, was on repeat all day in the studio so I wanted to have feet walking across the plate.  But my feet are way too big.

Since these are Open paints, there is no rush to get the print pulled. I had time to find just the right way to get footprints on there.  But it didn’t take me long at all to find exactly what I needed.

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

I needed an action figure, and I have several of those in the studio.  Malcolm Reyonlds volunteered for this. His feet were just the perfect size to walk right across the paint.  Plus his boots now have fancy rainbow soles, even better than a Christian Louboutin shoe!

Who is Malcolm Reynolds?  He’s the captain of Serenity on the tv show Firefly.  It was only on for one season, but what a glorious season it was!

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

This needed a playful title, so I grabbed my Ransom Alphabet stencil.  But there was a problem with it, specifically the Os. In just 2 little words, there were 3 Os! But the number 0 looks just like an O.

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

The two “O”s side by side was a real quandary for me.  That would make it so symmetrical and that just didn’t fit the vibe I was feeling. So I flipped the stencil, and one O is upside down.

Now they weren’t identical, just a wee bit different. With a letter like O, it still works. So glad this wasn’t the letter W, because flipping it around would make it an entirely different letter!

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Writing those words legibly felt like I was skydiving without a parachute!  I had been singing along to this song on repeat of the entire time and I wanted them in there so I attempted to write them. O.O.P.S It’s an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

How did I deal with that?  It got the full scribble journaling treatment.  I have to say, I like that far more than what I had originally planned, even if I had been able to write it neatly.

Now you know one of the bands I love to listen to while creating, what about you?

Gel printing with a toy action figure and Golden Open paints on a Gel Press Plate video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Want to know more about gel printing? I’ve got a page full of techniques and tutorial including getting started step-by-step and even my husband making a print. Check it out here.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

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OOPS! I Loved it Then I Hated it. Now What?

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This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

I detested this canvas for a very long time.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  The more I looked at it the uglier it became in my head but that ugliness was a gift from my muse.  How was ugly a gift?  When it makes me cringe, I don’t care what happens to it. I was free to let loose and play.

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

Watch on Instagram…and while you’re there, hit that follow button so you’ll see more of my quick videos.

After a few layers, I feel in love with it but I knew it wasn’t finished.  But I loved it just as it was but I wanted to add more to it.  You can guess that this conversation in my head didn’t get me anywhere at all.

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

Areas inside the painting jumped out at me, called to me. There just might be a free downloadable Spark of Art-spiration from this play in the near future in the newsletter.  Not signed up yet?  Click here join my newsletter and you’ll get the next one delivered to your inbox!

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

I was loving these little pockets of play so much that I wanted to cut up the canvas but I didn’t want to cut up the canvas.  Another one of those conversations that didn’t go anywhere…until…

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

I decided to live on the edge and take a chance.  I grabbed the black and started painting rectangles around my favorite parts.  What I loved was lost forever. What have I done to this!  Full drama queen happening in my head until I reminded myself it was just an O.O.P.S., an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

In for a penny, in for a pound.  I drew those rectangles, so I decided to fill in the black paint around them. That didn’t help at all. Still didn’t love it.

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!

Adding some more here and there and still no love happening. But that’s okay. I know it is just an O.O.P.S. and the Opportunity will present itself to me when the time is right.

This was an ugly canvas and that was a gift from my muse because when I fell in love with one layer, that is when it go tough!
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Taking a Leap in My Art Journal

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Stenciling with a mask in a gel printed altered book art journal video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

I took a leap or two in my altered book journal. Not a flying leap but another kind of leap.  An art journaling adventure from the red I almost never use to attempting surgical stenciling precision to the careful lettering.  I am guessing it won’t surprise you that there was an O.O.P.S. in there!

Watch Altered book journal with a stencil and mask on YouTube.

Want more play?  Want specific ways to play? Then check out my free workshop, Permission to Play.

How did red get on this altered book page?  I blame my husband.  No really, it was him.

He is actually the one who made this gel plate wonderfully “dirty” with flecks of red which led to the red 4″ circle prints.  He’s been making prints in some of the Facebook Live videos in my workshop, Gel Printing FUNdamentals.

Stenciling with a mask in a gel printed altered book art journal video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

This is where the pressure was on, and I needed to be precise.  The silhouette’s hand and feet would just touch each circle if positioned just so. But with all my careful planning, there was still an O.O.P.S., an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.

You can see the sneaky way I used the mask to line up the Dance of this Life stencil to be sure it was in the right place in the video.

Stenciling with a mask in a gel printed altered book art journal video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

To get the word to curve around the red circle, each letter was stenciled individually. At first, I used Post It notes to mask it off to be sure that only the letters were stenciled.  For the second stenciling of LEAP, there was no masking.

Why?  It’s  like my first child.  Everything was sanitized and I worried and overthought everything.  Then with my second child, it was more like oh, you’re playing with electrical cords. Glad you found a toy. Can’t imagine what it would have been like if I’d had a third.

Stenciling with a mask in a gel printed altered book art journal video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Warning, there is a pen in grave danger here as I outlined the stenciling.  Pens and damp paint don’t mix well, and it often destroys the pen, especially felt tips and ball point pens.  So that’s why I chose to use fountain pen, it can take a bit more abuse. But it does have it’s limits.

Stenciling with a mask in a gel printed altered book art journal video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

So why did I put the word LEAP on there more than once? Because sometimes when I want to leap, I need to be encouraged more than once.  The head might know it is the thing to do, but the heart needs time to catch up.

If you’d like more encouragement to play, join the fun in my free workshop, Permission to Play. 5 video lessons, all downloadable, filled with specific strategies for how I rediscovered how to let myself play.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!


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