I’m doing a course at Fibres West 2025 which involves geli plate printing and I thought I’d get a head start so that I would have a basic understanding.
My first task was to make a geli plate, which is basically a sturdy lump of gelatine used to carry the paint and stencil material. Bought ones use synthetic gelatine and I’m not so keen on that idea, so I gathered my supplies and made it, but it didn’t set in the time stated in the recipe so I began messing with it. I eventually decided it was a failure and took myself off to bed. When I got up I found a geli plate, nicely set but a bit sad looking. It wasn’t at all clear and had some weird surface marks.
I decided I had nothing to lose though and set about playing. As usual I took not a single in progress photo, but I did a bit of googling and a lot of faffing. I also used my Cricut to cut a few stencils, experimenting with the type of material they were cut from, all of it repurposed. Below are some of my stencil shapes captured from my Cricut. This isn’t all of them, and I didn’t use all of these, but you get the idea.
I really wanted to print on fabric, specifically a very ripped and tired linen sheet that had belonged to my son. The common wisdom was to back the pieces of fabric to be printed with freezer paper prior to printing. Freezer paper is expensive in Australia and it contains plastic do is not compostable. I needed to find an alternative. I thought about making some starch (cornflour and water) but decided to try the fabric in its raw state.
These are some of my samples and first attempts. I was trying to emulate Yayoi Kusama on the piece at top left!
All of these were printed with zero stiffening of the fabric. They probably aren’t as crisp as they could be but I still love them.
My geli plate didn’t hold up too brilliantly. The edges wore off and it became a bit uneven, but it did work, so I’m going to make another one, using some of the things I’ve learned.
I was left with all these squares and began to think I needed to do something with them. In the end I settled on a quilt as you go technique to stitch them together. I found some cotton batting and a piece of lovely striped fabric which I think Jenny from @joeandroxy on IG donated to my stash.
I cut them into squares and laid them out in a vaguely pleasing way and then sandwiched them with batting and plain linen squares.
I used the BSR (stitch regulator function) on my machine and wildly stitched round shapes or just doodled on the fabric where things got too hard. It’s difficult to show the BSR foot mechanism but it basically means that the stitches remain the same length regardless of speed or direction.
I used strips of linen to join the squares, simultaneously sewing strips of the striped fabric on to the back. I got better at doing this as I went along. It’s a very neat way of joining quilted squares as there is no bulk.
When it’s pinned on the line it doesn’t look too bad, although some of my strips don’t quite line up, in spite of my best endeavours. I decided to print on the borders, but they weren’t hugely successful and I may print some strips of fabric and appliqué over the top.
The corners of the borders are just leftover squares, cut down to fit.
The back turned out really nicely and I’m pleased with it.
All that was left to do was to snip off a million threads and snuggle under it.
Here I am in my pyjamas, stitching yet another kawandi quilt. If you can’t tell by the curved walls, I’m in our Airstream trailer at our holiday place where it’s pretty chilly. The little rug is surprisingly warm, and it’s so soft because of that worn linen.
The whole point of this exercise was to help me work out what I needed for the workshop, which lasts for five days, so I might need a bit. I have now acquired, from the same son, a ripped linen doona cover which he bought at Brooklinen in Bleeker Street in New York. He had an apartment in Bleeker Street for a while, so it’s nice to keep this memory going.
I’m going to keep playing with stencils and stamps, and I have been collecting leaves, seed pods and feathers. I’m going to try a bit of freezer paper just to see if it does make a difference and I might try starching the fabric. I cannot wait to do the class and undo all my newly acquired bad habits!
I thought you might enjoy this video of Miss G and her cousin L. I’ve had to edit it a bit, but it is quite entertaining.
