Ever spend an entire afternoon searching for that one thing you know you have but can’t seem to find?  After spending an embarrassingly long time looking I had to laugh at myself. This is why I prefer to use what is within arms reach, there is no search and rescue team needed for that!

It was time to purge the studio yet again, but this time, I went at it ruthlessly and with a sense of humor because some it was a bit ridiculous.  The goal was to to clear things out so that if I looked in a drawer or a cabinet, I could see exactly what was in there. Time has proven over and over that if I can’t see it, I won’t remember to use it.

You bet my inner art supply hoarder was in a panic!

Even if I thought it was great, if I hadn’t started to use it after say 10 years, then I needed to let it go.  This flyer from an art exhibit in 2004 has such potential…but if I haven’t made the time to use it in 13 years then I need to face the reality, I probably won’t ever use it.

What about all the Ziploc bags of project remnants and paper scraps that I just had to save?  But wait…there’s more…

10+ year old shampoo bottles from vacation because I liked their shape…the remnants of Stabilo pencils because they might come in handy… scraps of washi tape saved on freezer paper because who wants to waste that sacred washi tape…paint that had been forgotten and totally solidified in the bottle…did I really need to save all this for eons?

Okay, even my inner hoarder admitted this was a bit ridiculous to be holding on to these types of things for decades.  How do I know decades?  Well, if I date the piles off my messes the way an archeologist does, I know that the hotel shampoo bottles are from a vacation taken in 2005.  So anything from that layer of the cabinet was potentially just as old.

Then there were the papers.  Oh, was there paper.  Stacks of colorful  papers stamped, stenciled, and of course gel printed.

Then there were the papers from scrapbooking kit clubs, stacks of bargain paper that were just too good of a deal to pass up…when my now college age daughter was 5.  These were the papers I hadn’t touched in eons.  At least my inner hoarder was perfectly fine getting rid of the brown papers.

As papers were sorted into stacks, occasionally I noticed words peeking out, like messages from the mess and the muse.  The dictionary paper had fall guy on it…then the first line of a gel print stood out to me…trying to please everyone.  Well, that isn’t subtle reminder of a lesson I need to relearn every now and then is it!

A game card I found said, “Take your normal turn.”  If the muse wanted me to get anything other than a laugh out of it, she had best be less cryptic.

The muse also kept encouraging me to continue sorting and purging…it was surprisingly emotional to purge this much stuff.

There were also reminders that this was the right time to do the purge…at least that is my interpretation of the NOW.

Then there were the gel prints that were all over the studio in different drawers.  This part of the purge brought me the most joy, just running my hands over them made me happy.  And I kept every one of these.  My inner hoarder won that battle!  They were sorted so I can now quickly find the ones I want when I want them.

So what did I do with all the treasures I was purging?  I loaded up the van and donated them!

You can image the panic my inner hoarder was going through having this all head out the door but knowing that they were going to support creativity in others soothed the stress exceptionally well.  The new home for all the treasures was a thrift store for art supplies in Cincinnati, Ohio called Indigo Hippo.

They are a pay what you can store and also do community outreach with art events so art supplies are available for anyone who wants it.

The store is mixed media playground.  They have everything from dress patterns to fabric swatch books to papers to beads to paints (Golden included) to wood scraps to bits and baubles.

I hope every city has a store like this because more creativity in the world can only make it better!

Even the outside of the building shouted creativity!

I would love to say that getting all these treasures on their way to a new home meant the studio looked empty.  It looks just like it did before except when I open a drawer or cabinet, I can see what is in there.  So now I can see what I have and spend more time playing and less time looking for hidden supplies!

What are the dos and don’ts for gel printing?  The most important is Do have fun and Don’t worry about doing it the “right” way because there is no right way…just the way you enjoy!   Do use a gel plate with the squish factor, like the Gel Press plates.   Don’t use a hard plate, they don’t release the paint nearly as well.

Watch The Dos and Don’ts of Gel Printing on Youtube.

Do use any acrylic paint.  Don’t worry if the paint is the correct type for gel printing. All acrylic paints work on it!

Do get your favorite colors, even if they are different brands of paint.  Don’t worry, paint doesn’t have cooties and the different brands can all play nicely together.

Do grab whatever papers you have around.  Junk mail, white paper, cardstock, geometry homework, old scrapbook paper, book pages, the phone book, whatever you have!

Don’t use heavily coated papers (like print at home glossy photo paper) since the coating might leave a residue on the plate and fragile extra vintage crumbling papers because well…they just crumble fall apart when you print with them.

Do look through your house and your stash of supplies to find things to add texture and pattern. Shelf liner, caps, bottles, cardboard from a finished roll of masking tape, stencils, rubber stamps- anything can become texture or pattern!

Don’t overlook anything.  You might be surprised what fun textures you can create with everyday items…like pasta. Yes, I used dried pasta and of course, there’s a video of it.

Do make some ghost prints.  Don’t be afraid, ghost prints are not the paranormal, they are they 2nd or so 3rd pulls that have less paint on them and a softer look (hence the ghost name) than the very first pull.

Do have fun and go a little wild and crazy with that paint! Don’t be afraid to take a risk…after all it’s just paint and paper.  It’s not like we are walking a tightrope 50 feet in the air without a net.

Do put the amount of paint on the plate that you like.   Don’t worry if it is the right amount.  Let yourself experiment and find the amounts that feel best to you. Some people like thin precise layers of paint on the plate.  I prefer to put a river of color on the plate.  No wrong amount, it just gives you different looks.

Do make sure you have good contact between the paper and the paint when using a stencil especially if using cardstock.  The thicker the paper the more you need make sure you have that paper paint contact.   Don’t forget to take a pull of the paint from under the stencil. There is magic under there.

Do let the layers build up.  Don’t worry if you don’t like one layer – just add another layer on top of it.

Do make lots of prints that way you will have lots of opportunities to create prints you love.  Don’t worry if every print isn’t magical on the first pull.  You can always print right on top of those prints.  So often the print I thought was yuck in the beginning becomes my favorite after a few more layers.

Do clean it if it brings you joy to clean it.  My plates frequently have dried paint on them because cleaning does not bring me joy.

Don’t clean it if it does not bring you joy to clean it.  I rarely ever clean my plates.  They don’t look factory perfect, but they don’t have to look that way to make magical prints.

Gel Printing Resources

Gel printing videos on YouTube

Getting Started Gel Printing Guide (There’s a downloadable getting started guide available here)

Gel Printing Workshops I offer both in person and online workshops.  The most up to date list and workshops can be found here.

Gel Printing Supplies 

InLinkz.com

Some of my favorite gel printing play