Go figure!

Welcome back to my parlour! It has been a little quiet on the western front as I have been a tad off colour for a few days. However today I managed to drag my poorly self to my messy corner for a little "colour therapy"....that is a thing is it not?
I have had this idea in my head for a while now, well when I say idea I really mean little glimmers of "ooh I wanna try that"  that I have collected and put together for this journal page.  
The first glimmeration  was to use a Gelli plate. The 1st problem with this is I don't have one! Now many friends sing its praises but I have yet to fall at the alter of the Gelli. And I didn't want to fork out £30.00 on something I am not totally convinced about. (just think of all the goodies you can get with £30.00!) ....so, ....I made one! I cant remember now who's recipe it was, (sorry) but it involved 9 packets of gelatin and 380 ml glycerine. Make up the gelatin as instructed, add the glycerine then pour into a square Ferrero Roche box lined with cling film.  Allow to set and cure for 24 hours.  Oh my gosh! My house smelled of cows -gladly this did dissipate as the gelli set. And it worked!  I used PaperArtsey Fresco paints on my Gelli, adding a little Satin Glaze to make the work time a little longer. The background on this page was about print 26 of that first night ..yes I did get carried away, (but I do love using stencils and such like!) So much so that I ran out of my normal paper, then I used some photographic paper and that is where it all went pear shaped. The paper stuck like the proverbial to a blanket. As I pulled it off I took chunks of the plate with it....devastated is probably to strong a word, but I was disappointed. But for an outlay of £6  it's not the end of the world. I am going to try again, this time avoiding photo paper like the plague! Also, I wont use cling film as this adds a few wrinkles to one side, which in some ways is nice as it adds a  little texture, but I would prefer to choose to do that. Instead I will use some acetate. Also, if you are going to try this, do not whisk the mix as it adds air bubbles...you don't want them settling on the top. 
The 2nd was using a Croquis (the female form to the uninitiated!). Vicky Papaionnou used one in her journal If you love the rainbow. She suggested the book Collage Couture by Julie Nutting which has tutorials in drawing a croquis and different styles of clothes. They are all very stylised and just right for my page. So, I spent best part of the afternoon trying to draw what seemed to be quite a simple figure!  I finally managed to get one that was fairly ok...but it was much too big - I can't seem to draw small! Ahha! this is where the tech head in me came to the rescue...I photo copied it then shrunk it! Fab!  So I copied and printed a couple, 1 on craft card and another on paper. Then ( sorry I know this is getting very long winded! Skip to the end if you are bored, but please leave a comment) then, I cut the paper skirt, top and shoes out and traced around them onto a another gelli print. These were then cut out and pieced onto the craft card croquis to add colour. 
The 3rd (and last) was to use the Faux Leather technique we learned at Craft2gether a few years back. Again, using craft card, I spritzed the card with a mix of glycerine and water (6:1) massaged this in then screwed up the card careful not to tear it. Repeat, the add DI Vintage Photo to the raised creases and spritz once more to move the ink. I left it outside to dry then set about drawing the suitcases and adding shadows with a Stabillo All pencil. Then bish bash bosh I stuck it all together! Et Viola! Complete......not a quick project, but I loved doing it. 
I am going to enter it into the following challenges:
Thats Crafty Go Figure
Countryview challenge use a stencil
http://art-journal-journey.blogspot.co.uk/
http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2016/05/2016-topic-9-mono-printing-challenge.html#
http://welove2create.blogspot.co.uk/p/meet-design-team.html
http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/welcome-to-creative-artistes-challenge.html
Stencil Sunday #44 + May Mixed Media Challenge
Stampotique Scribbles