Trying out Gelatos

As part of an add-on to June's like for ever kit I got a pack of gelatos.  I have very little experience with them and wanted to have a jolly good play, try out a whole bunch of techniques before I put them anywhere near a scrapbook layout.  I videoed my process...

Here is my test page:

My surfaces were pre-gessoed.  One has a whole load of used strips of washi tape stuck on (I hate to waste the prettiness!) with the gesso over the top.

Here are my thoughts;  I didn't rate the two tools in the kit.  The brush shed a load of hairs, more than I was expecting.  Call me snobby but I like a good paint brush, one that doesn't drop hairs all over my work!  The foam tool was OK-ish but you would need one for each colour and quite frankly I preferred using my finger or a baby wipe.  The colours are good - blood orange, banana, squid ink and acqua dolce.  Aqua dolce is very pale.

As for the other colours, big thumbs up!  I might prefer a slightly punchier aqua colour but will use the acqua dolce nonetheless.  It will need to be used less sparingly to get the colour depth that I like.

On to the techniques; smudging was easy with the coat of gesso underneath.  Fingers, daubers, dabbers, cotton buds, barely damp baby wipes... they all do the job.  I prefer to use my fingers as I like to get messy!  Remeber to use a different finger or area of wipe for each colour so you don't contaminate.  The acqua dolce is easily overpowered by a tiny amount of another colour and mud is easily made!

I used a damp baby wipe through a stencil to lift the colour.  I learned that you need a wet baby wipe to lift the colour!  Not a problem though, a quick spritz with water and my baby wipe was suddenly much more efficient.

 I cut some gelato off the stick and mushed and mashed and smushed it together with  some gel medium.  It was much harder to mix than I imagined!  I had hopes of it just dissolving easily and make a beautifully coloured gel, but after a good few minutes of mixing I realised this wasn't going to happen!!  Perhaps there is a technique?  I will play further...  It went through the stencil wonderfully and I'm pleased with the effect - perhaps I need to embrace the extra texture the granular bits of undissolved gelato give?!

I successfully 'let some down' with water.  It did, again, take a lot of mixing but gave good flicks and splatters.  It has a different finish to the splatters I make with Inktense, so it is good to have these four colours to add to my arsenal.

I feel I still have a huge amount to learn about this new (well, new to me!) medium.  If (when) I get more I would rather just buy gelatos and skip the tools!  All in all though I had a lot of fun, I have a nice page in my journal and I like gelatos.