Hi there. I have started up a Blog just for my Gel Plate Creations, I might slip in a bit of Mixed Media and a touch of Altered Arts & Crafts, and maybe the odd Claritystamp DT Post, O'h and a few pages of my Journal here and there, but this blog space is MAINLY about my Gel Plate Creations. I have been promising for a while to get my tutorials going on my Page, Blog and You Tube so here it is, the Journey Begins! Well actually it began last year when I posted three or four videos on You Tube and the year before that - I would’nt bother with the early ones though that I made many years ago. I don’t want to delete them because people have been kind enough to watch them without any harsh criticism so they will stay. But my recent ones are much improved on them.
When I make a video I treat it as if I am demonstrating, like at the Clarity Open Days. So its kind of organised and yet not organised at all, if you know what I mean.
When I make a video I treat it as if I am demonstrating, like at the Clarity Open Days. So its kind of organised and yet not organised at all, if you know what I mean.
I have a Gel Plate Creations Page on FB and it would be lovely if you would Like and follow my page, these two items will be connected, the Blog and the page. I also have a Gel Plate Creations on Instagram, where I post all my creations!!! ha ha no pun intended, and I have a You Tube Chanel which I set up last year just for Gel Plate Videos. I also have a normal You Tube which I started several years ago.
So why concentrate a Blog on the Gel Plate?? People who know me in the Craft World will know the answer to that but for those who don't the answer is this-
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| This is me practicing at home for a Workshop Demo. |
When I first heard of the Gel Plate I felt an inner excitement. I told everyone about this new product I had heard of and I couldn't wait to get hold of one. I was so excited about it that people started to ask me if they could come to my Gel Plate Workshop, I had to tell them I hadn't even seen one in the flesh yet, but they said they didn't care because if I was that excited about it without seeing one it must be a great product!
Well it is and I knew it would be. If you have ever wanted to work on a printing press, or print block patterns or just add a chunk of colour to a card all in one go the Gel Plate is for you. I use mine when I want a background, when I want to switch off and play with a glass of wine in one hand and a Brayer in the other, with my Echo talking to me all night saying "I don't recognise that song"!!! I get it out when I have a Crafting Block, or when I want to make a video or when I need inspiration for a Workshop or demo I am prepping for and I use it to get rid of all that white space on a card before I start to stamp.
So I suppose you will want a few pictures to go along with this Blog, this is just an introduction page really but I will show you some of my most recent prints and some unfinished prints and I will come back to them later.
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| I do love to play with Pattern and Tiny pieces of Art. |
What I use on it, well a lot more than most people would dare to I reckon? All you clean crafters out there, you have a right to be clean just as I have a right to be messy, (not dirty so much, as paint is quite clean) when it comes to my Gel Plate I suppose the saying "like a bull in a china shop" springs to mind???
But no you do have a right to be clean, tidy, organised, to leave white space and to pre-think your project before you start. Again, all of this can be achieved on the trusted Gel Plate.
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| This isn't finished but I do love this process. I made it for a DT card/ |
For those of you who have bought it and not got it out of the Package yet, well shame on you!!! It's cruel! That little chunk of bendable Printing Press wants to breath in the air, it wants you throw paint at it, drag Ink across it and put stencils on it, roll pattern into it and most of all it wants you to "get it dirty" so that it can produce some beautiful pieces of art that you never imagined you would end up making.
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| So Claritystamp already had some shapes stamps for putting lettering/words in them but I was playing with mine like this! I love little mini pieces of Art and I have been teaching a lot of that over the last two year. |
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| This is what gave me the inspiration for the Sam's Shapes Stamps. I made this DT card for Clarity using the Happy Birthday Stamp and two size 0 stamps in the Letterbox set of stamps. I realised that for me, personally, I only really need shapes, its what I am more comfortable with. These little Retro Zeros are in my got to stamp box and they make great little borders etc. |
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| This is one of my favourite projects that I have made and taught in my Clarity Mixed Media Workshops. I love the GelPress Petites range of Gel Plates and I love these stamps. This project is easy to do and fun, its one of them to do when you fancy a bit of a paint and a doodle without having to think about it. |
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| The Shapes are from the Stamp Set I designed, heavily influenced by a set From Barbara Gray, which were launched for my very first Clarity Mixed Media Workshop. You will see these stamps on here a lot. I had so many project Ideas for them alongside the Gel Plate that they kept me going for over a year. I would have carried on but felt I should really use a few other stamps in the Clarity Range!!! The thing I love about them, (and would love more!!) is that I can do everything with these stamps that I can do with the Gel Plate. |
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| This is the base of a Gel Print Project I had published in the Craft Stamper Magazine. Its in the Xmas 2017 Edition. That was a very proud moment - and one ticked off my Bucket List. I wonder if they would have me back? |
So that's where I will leave it for now. It is so good to be blogging again. I hope you will like and follow my Blog, and/or my Facebook Page and Pinterest or Instagram, which ever one or more you are into.
By for now,
Carry On Crafting
Sam Crowe.
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