BS Sessions - Gelatos Tutorial 101

Welcome, Friendly Friends to the

third installment of the BS Sessions!

What are the BS Sessions? Well Samantha knows how to work a marker like nobody's business and Becca loves to get messy with mixed media. We both wanted to learn the other person's crafty secrets so we're going to ask one another a question on the last Thursday of the month. Becca will provide you with some amazing Mixed Media techniques and Samantha will show you some tips and tricks about coloring! We'll both provide our followers with a little tutorial, because if we have these questions - our followers might too!

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Which brings me to this month's question, asked by Sammy:

How do you use gelatos? What are some different things you can do with them?

Gelatos! I love them! Next to Distress Inks, they're probably my very favorite crafty supply because there is SO much you can do with them. 

Things to know about Gelatos:

>They have the consistency of soft crayons

>You don't have to be gentle with them. Definitely scribble away!

>They are reactive with water

Some of the things I'm going to show you have been published on my blog before, but I thought it would be helpful to compile a whole list of them right here. 

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Making Backgrounds with Gelatos

If you're looking for quick and easy way to make a background that's also super stunning, look no further. 

One thing I would HIGHLY suggest when using this technique is to paint the cardstock with a thin layer of gesso first. Gesso seals the tiny holes of the cardstock, so the gelatos will blend together more easily, rather than being absorbed right away. 

  

Background on the left is made without gesso - 

background on the right is with gesso. 

As you can see - background two is much better. 

I scribbled on some gelatos and blended them together with my fingers. I wanted it to look distressed, so I wiped away a little bit of the background with a baby wipe.

To see how this background got turned into a card - check out this blog post.  

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Making Drips With Gelatos

As I said earlier, gelatos are reactive with water, which means you can do some really cool techniques! One of my favorites is making drips. For this technique, it's almost essential to base your cardstock with gesso, or the drips will not go as far and will not blend well. 

To achieve this effect, scribble gelatos across the top (in this case I used three shades of purple and a gold). Next, use a mini mister to spritz the gelatos strip with water and hold it vertically so that the water can drip down the paper. Add more or less water based on the effect you want to achieve. 

To see the card I made with this panel, check out this blog post.

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Watercoloring with Gelatos

You can use gelatos exactly like you use watercolors in a couple of different ways. 

You can either draw directly onto an image and then paint over it with a watery paintbrush or waterbrush pen to blend:

Or, for more precise watercoloring, you can scribble some gelatos onto a clear acrylic block (or any surface) and then mix the colors with a little water and pick up with a paintbrush.

 

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Using Gelatos to Color Texture Paste, Gel Medium, or Gesso

Gelato shavings can be used as a coloring agent by mixing with any wet or liquid product. 

Shave some of the gelato stick into the texture paste (or gesso, gel medium, etc) and mix thoroughly. Obviously, the more of the stick you use, the deeper the color tone will be. I only used a little bit of the dark blue, so I wound up with a lovely pale blue in the end. 

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These are just of the few ways to use gelatos! There are so many possibilities! You can use them to color almost anything in a quick but stunning way! 

If you'd like to see all of the projects I've made with gelatos, you can check out my gelatos project library. 

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Now - if you're interested in improving your coloring skills, make sure you head on over to Sammy's blog 
because she's answered my question:

What the heck does a blender pen do? Do I need one?