Sarah Jane's Craft Blog

This is my third installment in learning how to use a gel press printing plate. So far I've explored the basics with craft paint and copy paper , then graduated to using card stock and paint stamps , and today I'll try using stencils. I got out a silicone craft mat , my gel press printing plate , a stack of plastic stencils , some 8 1/2 X 11 card stock cut in half (because I have a 5 x 7 gel press), craft paint , and paint brushes and a paper plate. I started by painting my gel press plate with some yellow paint (lighter colors work best to start with when layering) and printing it on a piece of card stock, then I painted the plate with a light blue and applied the stencil. Then I applied the painted card stock to the gel press  It sort of worked, but since the stencil was smaller than the press/paper, it left an outline--no biggie, it can be cut down if you don't like the look, but the part that I didn't like was that there was lots of paint bleed through on the sten

Last week I started my journey of learning how to use a gel press printing plate . I learned a few things which I then attempted to apply to this week's project while adding in the use of foam paint stamps . I have an extensive collection of foam stamps that I used to use to make homemade wrapping paper . I laid out a silicone craft mat and grabbed my gel press, some paint brushes, craft paint , a brayer , foam paint stamps, and some card stock sheets cut in half. Last week, I learned that regular paper gets wet and becomes easy to tear pretty quickly, so I decided to use some card stock for this week's project. I painted a light coating of craft paint onto my gel plate to start. I learned that lighter coats of paint worked better than heavy coats with the craft paint. Next I grabbed a foam stamp and used it to press across the plate. The stamp lifted some of the paint off of the press and created a pattern. I laid my piece of cardstock onto the painted press. Then I used a b

A long while back, I saw a gel printing plate being used for a craft online and thought it was the coolest thing ever. So I ordered one online (there are a couple of brands, but  mine's a 5 x 7 inch Gel Press brand printing plate ). Then I forgot I had it for a couple of years and finally decided to bring it out and try it. This is not an expert tutorial, but instead a chance for you to follow along as I learn about how to get the gel printing plate to work.   I laid out a silicone mat to protect my table and gathered up a bunch of supplies. I grabbed my stash of old craft paints , paint brushes, some paint daubers , a paper plate to use as a palette, and a bunch of 24lb copy paper (that I cut in half since the gel press is 5 X 7). I also grabbed a brayer that I had in my linoleum stamping supplies. I chose a few colors of paint that were complementary to start. I used a paint brush to apply the paint onto the gel press. Once the gel press was covered in paint, I used a paint dau

  Well, last week was finals week and the 3D print project I had planned for this week failed 4 times, so I'm sharing a collection with you this week and we'll be back to regular crafting next week. Many of my most popular projects are alcohol ink projects, if you're interested in seeing more, check on the collection here: Sarah Jane's Craft Blog's Alcohol Ink Craft Collection .

A while ago, our local Tuesday Morning closed it's doors, but during the closing sales, I was able to pick up some Brea Reese Alcohol Inks (which I tested in an earlier post ) and some Spectrum Noir alcohol based art markers. Most of the alcohol based markers that people are familiar with are just "permanent" markers like Sharpies. I haven't had the pleasure of using any alcohol based markers designed for art, so I was excited to try them out. The first set I  picked up was a  Spectrum Noir Classique (Bright) markers set which, as the name suggests, are their classic set. It comes with twelve colors--all bright colors (no gray, black, brown, etc...).  To see if these could be used like alcohol ink, I got out some 4 inch glazed ceramic tiles (which are cheap at the hardware store and can be washed off with isopropyl/rubbing alcohol and be reused which makes them great for experimenting). I laid down a craft mat and got out some rubbing alcohol and a bulb blower. I

Okay, so I may have been influenced by the internet to buy one of those Scrub Daddy sponges . They are probably not worth all of the hype, but they do allow you to scrub tough junk when the sponge is cold and then work like a regular sponge when they are run under warm water. One of the annoying parts of using these sponges is that it's hard to get the water out of the sponge when you use them cold, and they are a bit more expensive than other sponges, so you want them to last longer. So, I printed a stand to hold my sponge so that it would dry out and last longer. I found the design for the Scrub Daddy Stand on Thingiverse. I printed it using standard settings (.2 Resolution, 20% infil) with black PLA . Aside from a little stringing (which came right off), the print came out perfectly. The print ended up taking about 3 hours on our printer.  Of course, a lot of the appeal of these silly sponges is that they are so darn cute. The stand seems to add to that appeal AND it helps it d