Balzer Designs

Some New "Composed Gelatin Prints"

During the process of designing some new stencils for The Crafter's Workshop, I created some new "composed gelatin prints" in order to test out the stencils. There are two things to note in that sentence: Composed gelatin prints are prints created with intention, thought, and a design eye. They are meant to be finished art to hang on the wall rather than collage fodder or backgrounds. (You can learn how to make your own in my year long gelatin printing class or you can purchase one of mine in my shop.) I test out all of my stencil designs to... Read more →

Nature Printed Tags

How about some nature printed gift tags for the holidays? Here's a fast forward look at these tags coming together: Members can watch the real time version of this video in the classroom. If you're interested in learning more about nature printing, consider my online course "A Year of Gelatin Printing: Found Objects," which begins March 1, 2021. It's part of my year-long gelatin printing class, "A Year of Gelatin Printing." Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Holiday Cards 2020: Gelatin Printed Snowflakes

I have always lived in the Northeast. So Christmas and Winter are inextricably linked to snowflakes. Therefore, I couldn't resist creating some cards that feature a flurry of snowflakes! Watch the video for the how-to: Supplies: snowflake masks (make your own or buy them) gelatin plate brayer acrylic paint texture comb (optional) sentiment stamp black ink white cardstock scissors or circle paper punch tape runner paper trimmer blank card foam adhesive I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and will make some gelatin printed snowflake cards! (PS: If you want to make lots and lots of gelatin printed papers, my online... Read more →

Holiday Cards 2020: Hand Stamped Trees

This is such a simple idea and super duper addictive. Once I started making these trees, I just did not want to stop! In essentials, I just stamped a whole bunch of hand carved stamps on top of each other. Watch the video for the how-to: Supplies: white cardstock tissue tape stamping ink hand carved stamps craft foam scrap paper for masking tape runner paper trimmer gold cardstock optional: paper punch and wet adhesive I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you're interested in learning more about carving and printing your own stamps, I offer several online classes. I'm currently... Read more →

Holiday Cards 2020: Paper Strips

You guys, it's not too late to make holiday cards to send out to friends and family! Especially when everyone is housebound, I think mailing a little handmade something sounds extra lovely. Therefore, every day this week I'm going to be sharing a tutorial for artsy holiday cards you can make and mail! Here we go: Today's cards are a great way to use up all of the hand painted paper scraps you have sitting around. I used gelatin prints, but you could use any painted/printed/doodled paper bits. Watch the video for the how-to: Supplies: paper scraps tape runner scrap... Read more →

Double Marbling

I often start the day with the thought, "what if?" Recently, I couldn't stop thinking about the idea of marbling over marbling. So I pulled out my Marabu Easy Marble paints and gave it a try and recorded the process for you: It was a lot of fun and I think the resulting papers are more interesting than the original papers. Both are pretty, but I'm always after something more than "just pretty." Take a peek at some of the details of those layers: Super fun and great results! I hope you'll give this technique a try! --- P.S. Thanks... Read more →

Adventures in Arting Podcast: Sarah Matthews Printmaker Bookbinder

Mom and I had a wonderful long chat with Sarah Matthews. I've seen Sarah's colorful layered prints many times, but I didn't know about her extensive work as a bookbinder. On the podcast we talk about creating during quarantine, YouTube, artist books, and lots more. Sarah has four girls and still manages to carve, print, or bind every single day. Give it a listen: If you do not see the podcast player above, please click on this link. On the off chance that you've never listened to a podcast or don't get why anybody would want to, here are some... Read more →

#PrintInktober 2020

This is the original photo I posted when I started the the #printinktober challenge in 2018. There are now almost 3000 posts using that hashtag! You can read my 2018 post here. I swore to myself that I was too busy this October to do the #PrintInktober challenge...but a week into October, I discovered that I didn't want to sit on the sidelines either. So...I decided to jump in a few days this month and not stress when I miss a day. (After all, I had already missed 7 days. Remember, it's never too late to start!) Confused? Here are... Read more →

Two Nature Prints

Here are two nature prints I did as demos during my live online, "Gelatin Printing from Your Backyard," class. I've included my finger in a few places so that you can see the scale of the detail. Printing with leaves is amazing! Class was tons of fun with so many gorgeous prints created. If you're interested in learning about this process, I will be teaching it as part of my year-long class, "A Year of Gelatin Printing," which will begin in February 2021. Join the mailing list to get all the details about the class. You can see all my... Read more →

Gelatin Printing for Non-Artists

Last week I had the great pleasure of teaching a group of teachers how to gelatin print via Zoom. It was a group bonding experience set up for them by their principal. Unlike when I teach in-person, I can't share photos of what they made because we weren't in the same room. However, I can share what I made as demos during class. To make class manageable for people who don't normally make art, we limited supplies to just 5 basic colors of paint, a 5x7 gelatin plate, paper, scissors, and a brayer. You can watch this video flip through... Read more →