Tags

Oversized Ranger tag

Smaller, 6 1/4 x 2 3/4 I think

The metal memo gate hanging in my kitchen.

I put all of my Christmas decorations away on December 26th. Yeah, I know. Scrooge. So this blank memo gate has been starring at me for 2 weeks. Yesterday it was windy, cold, but sunny. I told the dogs to amuse themselves looking out a window, and went into the studio to create some new, colorful tags.

I purchased the month long class, Creative Jumpstart, this year. The second video was with Mystele Kirkeeng, who specializes in primitive or outsider style art. From that, I went to Mystele's Etsy shop and purchased her Gel Press class, which was only $12. I really, really enjoy the process of the Gel plates, but I'm never happy with my results. It seems the longer I do it, the less I like it. In Mystele's class you learn how to use the plate as a stamp. Yeah, boy.

First of all, I used the 3x5 plate for most of the above. (The top left image is something I purchased at an art fair several years ago in Zionsville, IN. The top middle tag I did last year.) I have a collection of small stencils, and wanted to mix and match for lots of layers. On the last few passes, I switched to the 2x2 Gel Press square. Finished up with running the Ranger Black Soot distress ink pad around the edges, and stamping some Donna Downey quotes. The eye is a new stamp from Joggles.com, as are the small paint brush and pen images.

The most important aspect I took away from this is: using a smaller Gel plate forces you to limit the paint, giving you a totally different type of print. One that appears to have more texture. It is easier to obtain a "ghost" print as well, which is my favorite part. It is way easier to put paint exactly where you want to fill in.

I am loving the process. Try it. Enjoy.
Linda