On my way to the grocery yesterday, I just had to stop by Traderbakers, a permanent flea market. I haven’t been in there for a while, so I was looking forward to seeing if they had anything I might use in my art processes.
I will be taking a batik class in April at Making Ends Meet in Kentucky. I thought this would be a great place to find some old potato mashers to use with the wax. I lucked out and found three vintage tools – a wisk and two mashers that I thought might work. When I returned home I decided to test drive them with my gelli printing plate.


Click on the pictures to take a closer look. For the final layer on these prints I used the wisk as a stamp and dipped it in the paint.
Then I used a couple pieces of my marbled fabric. For these I just used the wisk.

I loved all of the circles and lines. I really liked the added depth I got with adding gelli printing to my fabric. The more I use the gelli printing plate I find that I don’t need to use a lot of paint. The less is better especially when adding a second or third layer. I also liked using the wisk on the cardstock as a stamp. I need to do more experimenting.
You’ll love the class I’m sure. I played around with soy wax batik as shown in Rayna Gilman’s book. It was great fun and my granddaughter enjoyed it too. Photos on my blog.
I love the results you got with your fabric! Just beautiful!
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Diane, I’ve worked with wax with screens but not direct to fabric so I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll check out your photos. Thanks for your kind words and stopping by.
Fun! I learned how to use soy wax for batik in 2007, and have been totally thrilled with the results. And I have a whisk just like that, along with a bunch of other items I have gathered for making great wax designs. If you visit my blog and search on ‘soy wax’ you will see several posts with photos of samples of how I use it. Can’t wait to see what you do after your class! Meanwhile, I’m really leaning toward getting a gelli plate… maybe when I get my tax refund!
Hey Judy, Thanks. I’ll go search on your blog. Thanks. The gelli plate is great because you can just do it and not have to wait for the gelatin to gel. I think there is still a place for the gelatin – especially when it breaks down producing some really neat results, but this is nice to have and create right away.
Lynda recently posted..Gelli printing with potato mashers/wisk
Love the pattern the whisk makes!!!
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Some of my favorite tools too — and I love the results you got on the Gelli plate!
Susie, I’m always on the lookout for neat printing tools. Thanks for commenting.
LOVE love love em! Perfect, fun textures. Glad to have read your post, posted by gelli arts on FB today!
I have some of these old whisks and mashers! I’m going to experiment with my Gelli with them. Thanks for the inspiration. 🙂
Itaya, You are so welcome. I’d love to see what you do with your whisks and mashers! Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Leslie, thanks for your comments. Thanks for telling me about the post. For some reason I missed it on FB. Thanks again for visiting.
I am going to be the guest artist on “And then we set it on Fire” (http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.com/) blog this coming June and I wanted to focus on the gelli plate. As I was doing my research I came across your blog and this post. I was impressed! I wondered if you would like to take one week in June to share some of your experience and printed fabrics using the gelli plate? Please send me an email if you are interested.
These prints are wonderful! Due to $$ issues, I made my own gelli plates just yesterday, and am in love!! I have some fabric and would love to try this out. Such an inspiration to look for more “off the wall” tools.
Kim, Thanks! I made my own gelatin plate before these came out and it was so much fun too! Have fun and I’ll be posting soon about printing with these plates. I’d love to see what you do with your plate.