Papercrafting: Gelli Printing

Every so often I used watch YouTube videos about gelli printing and got very excited  I wanted to do it.  I did not want to spend the money for a gelli plate.  In order to save money, I decided to make my own gelli plate. YouTube again came to my aid.  The Frugal Crafter, again!  She is so great.  She can do anything.

My gelli plate was successful but I never used it until one day....

When I was going to spend an afternoon and evening with some of the grandchildren.  I decided to take my gelli plate, paint brushes, various shape-making tools and brayer, paper, and paints that had been given to me.

The children LOVED making gelli prints.  We ended with many many sheets of paper that had been printed.  (If I were to do this with the children again, I will use heavier paper...perhaps 32-lb paper or even watercolor paper.)  The whole house seemed to be covered with prints that were drying.  In fact, they were not all totally dry when I packed them up to take home to turn into books.  That was months again.  Finally today I finished the book project.  This is what happened:

There were three children who made gelli prints so I decided to turn them into books.  By putting the pages facing each other, if they want to use the blank back sides for journaling or drawing or anything else, that is now a possibility.

These books are not ideal. However, I was able to use materials for the bindings that I already had at home.   The cover stock is actually leftovers from a frame shop where the man sells me his scraps for a price I am willing to pay. I suppose if I was going to do a really good job, I would know what size I wanted and get them pre-cut by the shop.  (My cutter is not meant for such a heavy-duty job...)


One time several years ago I saw a spiral binding machine available on Freecycle. (Freecycle is an organization/network of people all over the world who give away the stuff--all kinds of stuff--that they no longer want but don't want to throw in the trash.  Sometimes it is really really good stuff.  Sometimes it is just barely above trash, but if you go to pick up something that is not what you want, you don't have to take it....I love this organized way of disposing of things we no longer need, or for picking up things that we would like.)  I had wanted a spiral binding machine forever but did not have the funds to purchase one.  Free is good.  The people who were giving this away were so very nice.  The dad in the family was kind enough to carry the heavy machine to our car.  This was a REAL spiral binding machine.  It had been used by a printing shop for decades.  Not only does the machine work, it came with the binding plastic coils!  These are 14 mm coils. 

Sadly, I have not figured out how to make the chopper thing to go all the way along the edge.  Of course, it works great if I only want a pocket-sized notebook...It just means that I have to start at both ends and meet almost in the middle.  It works, just looks not so great.