In today's post, you'll see how to use gelatos and give you examples and techniques to get the most out of them. If you don't know what we're talking about, we'd like to tell you that gelatos are a pigmented wax from Faber Castell.
They're acid-free, so they won't spoil your photos, and are widely used in Mixed Media and scrapbooking. They have vibrant and creamy colours that glide on easily. You can use them with or without water, they are odourless and permanent once dry. The best thing is that you can use them on paper, canvas, or wood in several ways.
1 Watercolour style backgrounds
You need a brush and some water. The pigments are used like watercolours. You can apply the gelato on the paper or canvas, mix the colours, apply a little water spray and mix everything with a brush. This way, you will get a watercolour effect, and then you can easily blend all the colours together.
You can also apply gelatos directly with a brush or paintbrush. You can paint with them on a plastic-coated surface, add some water and apply it little by little with a brush.
2 Painting with your fingers
This is one of the most enjoyable techniques. The pigments are so creamy that they blend with your fingertips. You can use them on wood, chipboard, or embossed paper. To enhance your embossed paper, you can paint directly on the embossed part, which will make it stand out even more. Metallic colours, as well as white, can be used perfectly on dark cardboard.
3 Using gelatos with stencils
You can use stencils or any object that can be used to make a mask, such as a doily or die-cut.
You can mix them with water in a small spray bottle and use them as spray inks. Alternatively, you could apply them directly on the mask, but the effect will not be as similar to "watercolour", it is much more intense and colourful. With the metallic gelatos, the result is amazing.
4 Make your embossing stand out with gelatos
Make a regular embossing using transparent embossing powder (although you can use any colour, the transparent one will look the best with this technique). Then, use your gelatos painting with a brush, your fingers or a brush.
To remove the excess that remains on the embossed part you can use a wet wipe and remove the paint.
5 Stamping with gelatos
You can use acrylic and rubber stamps to create watercolour style images. The result will not be very defined as with regular ink. You can apply water and then paint with your gelatos. As they are like a wax, they allow you to colour different parts in different colours.
We hope you found these five basic techniques with gelatos useful. We love all the possibilities gelatos offer and the catalogue of different colours available.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us in the comments below ?
