Well, a very happy Bubblewrap Appreciation Day to you all! Yes, there is such an event! When I was given this assignment I was absolutely delighted as I LOVE bubblewrap – not only for the ease it brings when moving house, but the creative way it can be used for mono printing. I have created a number of projects to demonstrate the versatility of bubble wrap that I hope you will enjoy.
Firstly, materials you will need to create the base prints are as follows;
- Gelli plate
- Brayer
- Paints (I have used acrylic ones here)
- Stencils
- Bubblewrap – various sizes plus I used the gorgeous heart bubblewrap from Cocoa Vanilla. Special mention to my crafty friend Morgyn who was kind enough to send me large piece of this to use!
- Paper / cardstock to print on
Materials to complete the projects include;
- Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue
- Helmar Gemstone Glue
- Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
- Distress Inks / ink tool blender
- choice of stamps / digital image for a card
- Cardstock
- Sequins / embellishments for layout
- Canvas Panels 5×7 inches
Now for the step by step instructions of how to create your mono prints;
Step 1
Grab your gelli plate (this one is an 8x10inch plate), select your paints and get your brayer, paper and supplies ready for action!
Step 2
Put a small amount of paint on your gelli plate. I like to have two (or more) at one time, but this is up to you. Note: my gelli plate has black dots on it from a previous ink stain, however this does not affect the printing or the paint.
Step 3
Using a brayer, lightly spread the paint out until your happy with the coverage. I use a spare piece of paper or my art journal to clean off my brayer with the excess paint. This is great to use for future backgrounds or other projects.
Step 4
Lay a stencil over the top of the plate. You can pull a print just like this or add your bubble wrap on top of the stencil to give a more textured impression. Let's take a look at another layer of paint on the plate where I simply impressed bubble wrap on to it and used that as my print;
Step 5
Place your cardstock or paper over the plate and press firmly and evenly. This will ensure the best impression is left on your page. Pull the cardstock off slowly and walah! Your first print! Repeat this process trying different colours of paint, different stencils and bubble wrap to make impressions on the gelli plate!
Here are some of the prints I ended up with;
Now, on to the projects I have created with the prints;
Scrapbook layout
The first one is the scrapbook layout as pictured above. I actually used a watercolour print that my 3 year old did during these past holidays as the background for this layout! I used the heart bubblewrap which I had let dry with paint on it from the mono printing as the background mat for my photo. I love the effect that the metallic paints have had on this and it really makes the photo stand out. Coincidentally, it also matched the colours used in the watercoloured background! Here are some close up shots of that gorgeous bubblewrap;
I used stamps, washi tape, the heart is from Charms Creations and the 'Love' chipboard is from D-lish Scraps and has been embossed with black embossing powder.
Get 'whale' greeting card
For this card I took one of the pieces of printed paper and cut it to fit a little smaller than the A2 sized card. I inked the edges of the card base using Distress inks and adhered the mono printed piece. I coloured this gorgeous digital stamp from Jess Crafts Digitals with distress inks in the colours of Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean using an ink blending tool. I masked off the bandage element of the image so this would stay white. The panel was adhered to the card using Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue.
The whale and sentiment was adhered to the card using Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue and sequins adhered using Helmar Gemstone Glue. Here is an upclose photo of the effect the bubble wrap gives on this background.
Printed canvas
I also tried out mono printing on to canvas board. I had some 5×7 canvas board in my studio and thought I'd give it a go with the gelli plate. I followed the steps above, except when it came to putting the cardstock on the plate to get the print, I put the canvas board on the plate. I pressed rather firm to ensure the print transfered. The colours weren't as vibrant as I would have liked, but I now have a set of three canvas to decorate for another project. Here's how they turned out;
Here's a close up of the green and yellow canvas – you can really see the lovely pattern that the bubblewrap has left on this print.
Thanks so much for joining me on this Bubblewrap Appreciation Day…..I'd love to see how you show your appreciation for this special product. As cited from www.daysoftheyear.com, here is some ideas about how to celebrate on this special occasion!
How to Celebrate Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day
Bubble Wrap appreciation day can best be spent by taking a big old roll of Bubble Wrap and popping every single bubble in the sheet. Share these with your friends and family who need a bit of stress relief, and then share another sheet with them, popping away. One of our favorite ways to destress with Bubble Wrap is to take it and roll it in a tube, grab both ends of it, and twist as hard as we can, causing a torrent of pops to come forth.
Maybe you can even spend the rest of the day coming up with new uses for Bubble Wrap yourself!
