sustainability Archives - CLEVERcreating

Gelli-Printing Magazine Pictures for Beautiful Results

June 13, 2024June 13, 2024 by Hannie Mommers

When I started making Gelli prints, I used lots of stencils and all kinds of objects to make textures. I also printed some photos which worked quite well.

This was definitely a matter of beginner’s luck because they all failed when I tried to print pictures a few months after that. 😉

So when this year’s 100-Day Project came along, I sunk my teeth into making loads of prints and discovering how I could make sure the results were more consistent.

Read my tips for Gelli-printing magazine pictures in this article.

7 Creative Ideas with Waste Materials to DIY or Together with the Kids

December 15, 2023December 15, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

The best waste is of course no waste, but as long as that is a utopia, there is nothing better than coming up with creative ideas with waste materials.

One of the most beautiful sayings I ever saw was: Waste is only waste if you waste it.

And once you get used to thinking in terms of reusing and not wasting stuff, a huge flow of ideas will start, I can assure you.

In this article, I list a number of ideas for inspiration or imitation.

What is Gelli Printing and What Makes it so Amazingly Easy?

August 25, 2023August 25, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

Gelli printing is a form of monoprinting. Each piece of work is unique and usually depends largely on chance.

A Gelli print can be created in different ways. In this article, I describe a number of pure Gelli printing methods and combinations with other techniques.

It is great fun to experiment with this technique. For me, that is the biggest charm of Gelli printing. For starting hobbyists, the advantage is that the learning curve is really low.

8 Fun Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs for Ornaments or Egg Hunts

April 3, 2023April 3, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

The grandchildren are coming for Eastern and I am planning for an Easter egg hunt with them as well as a decoration with eggs. It’s fun to think of different ways to decorate Easter eggs.

A couple of years ago I made the decoration together with them. I had cut eggs from sturdy cardboard and they decorated them on both sides with felt-tip pens. Then we put a hole in it and hung them on 2 cross-linked branches to form a mobile.

They don’t like crafting themselves anymore, unfortunately, so I made the decorations myself and I used real eggs this time.

Ceramics in Magical Colours. How to Use the Colour of Clay Itself?

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

Decorating your ceramics can be done in many ways. Your clay object can be glazed or painted with engobes and underglazes. Even screen printing or applying transfers are possibilities.

A pure way of working is using the colour of the clay itself with at most a transparent glaze to emphasize the colours and make the object watertight.

Clay has different colours depending on the substances in the soil of the quarry. The clay you buy in the shops usually has only a few colours: it’s white, red, or ‘black’ (rather dark brown) after firing. Due to the industrialized process, the tones are generally the same every time.