Post from my Workshop on August 17th 2019. Just catching up after the Holidays.

When I say another enjoyable workshop I mean me, I enjoyed it. But everyone who attended told me that they enjoyed it too, which is always a bonus.

Feedback I get back, especially from new people is that my workshops are very relaxing and enjoyable. There is no pressure. This is the way I want it to be, we are playing with Gel Plates here, you have to give people time to just mess about with them, and after about the 5th or 6th print they all start to produce some really gorgeous prints. This is why we always do a “warm up session” with our Gel Prints.

Crafters Companion Aycliffe Store always put on a few good promotions for people attending my Workshops.

If you take one piece of card and try to re-produce the sample card in one go, its just not going to happen, especially with my samples. No, the more you print the better it gets, and the more Gel Plates you use the better the results too. Some of my regular Ladies now just automatically get two gel plates out. Now Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to have more than one, but the seasoned Gel Platers see the benefits of having a few in front of you.

One of my Ladies has been having trouble with her Gel Plate for a couple of weeks now. No matter what paint she put on, it just stayed too wet. It was too clean and too oily. I tried to mess it up for her last Month but it didn’t work. So this Month I could see she felt it was something she was doing. So, in my mind I had two options. Offer to treat her to a new Gel Plate, or work on on her Gel Plate for a little while instead of my own. My aim is to show people how much fun they can have on the Gel Plate so I don’t want people being put off because they think they are using them in the wrong way, (basically you can’t use them in the wrong way because there IS NO wrong way with the Gel Plate).

Packing up after a good Day’s Printing session.

Well five minutes later there was no oil oozing out of it and the paint was stuck like glue. I have never seen anyone cheer after getting a Gel Plate back off me before!

So what to do if your Gel Plate is not performing, i.e. it is too oily, the paint just seems to slip off it, the Brayer just pushes the paint across it instead of layering it onto the Gel Plate and I am not around to mess it up for you? :- Here is what you should do.

Get out a good Chalky Paint – avoid Dark Blue & Yellow and Semi Translucents – These are thinner and don’t have enough grip to dry up your Gel Plate.

Roll the Chalky paint on thinly and leave it to sit for about 30 seconds, put some paper on and give it a rub then leave that to sit for about 30 seconds.

Pull the Paper off and do this another 2 or 3 times. The paint is drying onto the paper and lifting the oil off the Gel Plate at the same time. When you feel a real good suction as you pull the paper off you know your Gel Plate is ready to go.

Immediately I had “DRIED” out her Gel Plate a little her prints were coming out like everyone else’s, the smile on her face when she realised it had nothing to do with her “doing it wrong” was precious.

All you have to do is decorate what you have.

You know I had Three Ladies from Scotland on my Workshop. They travelled up the night before and stayed in a Hotel and then they come to my Workshop and go home. I said I can’t believe you do that, but they said they just really enjoy them. Sandra does this every month! It was lovely to have Emma join us this Month. One of these Ladies was at my Workshop for the first time ha ha ALWAYS make sure you know who is attending your Workshop.

So the theme of the day was how to use Dee Fitzsimons Stamps when you are not a Colourist. So we did striped Gel Prints and Grungy Gel Prints and twisted background prints etc etc, so that the face and hair are partly covered by the prints so you don’t have to colour them. Then you can just decorate them instead by stamping flowers etc in the hair, and add bits of pattern, so when you colour the pattern it looks like Mixed Media type patterned hair. I also told my Crew Members to think about what Mascara they like and flick their black pen while they have a go at the eyelashes. Of course sometimes it looks like an old mascara, or like you put your make-up on without wearing your glasses!!!!! If you don’t practice you don’t learn.

So, after explaining this and doing a few projects we nip off to lunch. During Lunch it pops out that my New Lady, Sharon Nettleship, from Scotland, is a Colourist! She works for Crafters Companion and demonstrates their Pens. So she picked the wrong workshop to start off with didn’t she!!

And then of Course I realise that Vanessa is a Colourist too!! Of course she is, because she is on the DT for a the Papercraft Essentials Magazine where she does tutorials on her lovely Colouring Projects.

I love to see photos of finished samples from my Workshop. Here I think Vanessa has done a lovely job.

Sandra Boyle has posted some pictures of her finished projects in my “Clarity Mixed Media Workshop Crew” Page too.

Sandra said she is a bit addicted to making these. I must say this particular one is absolutely Awesome, and the Colour Combo is just perfect.

She is also addicted to making these little Travel Journal Photos with Barbara’s Papers too. This may just end up being a Youtube Video???

So thats it for this post. As you are reading this Blog anyway it would be great if you would Follow it too, this is a new Blog I have started up with WordPress so I need a few followers. Comments are always welcome too.

If you would like to book onto my future workshops you can book via this link –

https://uk.bookingbug.com/home/49977-Crafters-Companion

Thank you for nipping in to see my Blog,

See you soon, in fact very soon!! I have the next Blog Post waiting to be Posted already!

Bye – Sam Crowe.