How Do I....Gelatos

Once a month Artistic Artifacts holds a demo/make and take session on how to use a particular product.  Last night Sue attended a session on using Gelatos.  Gelatos are essentially acrylic paint sticks that are crayon like but easily blended with water.  Their main use is in mixed media art, but Sue was excited to learn some ways to use them on fabric and ribbons.

Sharon was the facilitator and demoed some of her favorite ways to use Gelatos.  Since water is an important component, we worked on the coated side of freezer paper. Other "tools" included a water spray bottle and baby wipes.

We were provided with a variety of materials to play with, including card stock, cardboard, found papers (map, sheet music, book page), ribbon and fabric. The baby wipes are perfect for smoothing and blending colors.

You can also use stencils and foam stamps. With stamps, they may deposit color, and sometimes take it away.

The piece of velvet ribbon really soaked up the color. It was fun to see how a bit of color and added water could transform a white piece of fabric to completely colored, much faster than dyeing!

The metallic Gelatos added a really nice sheen to paper.  It was fun to play with a different product and consider ways to use it in art quilts.