Last week I treated myself to a Gelli Arts printing plate. As I'm inexperienced in monoprinting I thought you might like to know how I got on.
The plate is made of a clear gel which is about 1/4 inch thick which is impregnated with a mineral oil. It is recommended that you use acrylic paint as this cleans off the plate easily.
For my first session I used a mixture of cheap craft acrylics, and tubes of Daler & Rowney System 3 and W&N Galleria acrylics. All of them performed well. In fact the craft paint was runnier and was easier to apply.
Above you can see a plate I made using foam stuck onto a piece of mount board off cut. .Top left I just 'inked' up a square of the gel plate and used the stamp to remove the paint. I was then able to use the paint on the stamp to take a second print (top right) The bottom stamp was also made using paint I'd lifted from the plate.
These figs were cut from a print made by combing the paint with a card cut with pinking shears. I then washed watercolour over the top.
I must say the Gelli plate was very easy to use and clean - either with a baby wipe or by spraying it with water and wiping (You can put it under the tap) It does need treating with respect as I guess it would be easy to damage it with sharp tools. If you just wanted to pull a few prints, it is easy to do without having to set up a big printing session. I may sound like an advert, but I have read lots of rave reviews so I thought I would add mine. There is lots of experimenting to do with getting the right quantity of paint on the surface etc, and I was inclined to overprint too heavily, but that is down to my skill not the plate. Hope you find this useful.
Jill
15 comments:
Glad you are enjoying the gelli plate. Great results
Very useful. I feel a trip to Art Van Go coming on!
So glad you like it, I love mine but still more experiments. Gold and copper paint, just, a little makes the page pop x
You've been having lots of fun with your Gelli plate - I'm enjoying experimenting with mine too! I particularly like the ones in your second photo with the masks etc. I'm having difficulty regulating my paint quantities - either too much or not enough :P
It is completely new to me, so I found this very interesting. I will find out more, looks great fun to use. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post your views.
I've been researching them and have a craving! Thanks for your post. Did you get it from intaglio?
Yes Jill, it was a good and helpful review. I too am still enjoying experimenting! x
Great review and lovely work Jill
Anne x
I watched some interesting videos from Gelli Arts last week about using the plate Jill and I see they have some square ones and larger sizes available. What are you going to do with the papers you printed? I watched a video with some resists printed on sticky notes which I thought was a great idea. Enjoy your printing and show us what you will be doing with the end results.
Just discovered that the Tentmakers will be at the Uttoxeter show next month. Probably a bit far for you to travel but if you were thinking of going it might be worth taking your piece along for Hani to see.
A great new thing to play with methinks! :O)))))))))
Really love your printing, beautiful color combinations & marks. Mono printing so accessible & as I use a plate made from gelatine from the cupboard I'd better go & see what state it's in on my studio desk as I forgot to put it back in the fridge!
Fun results Jill, I've just had my first go with mine!
Great review! I'm also a Gelli plate newbie and I'm loving mine!
I've been playing with my Gelli plate today too. I thought I'd got the paint quantity right but some of the prints barely took any paint off the plate. I havn't worked it with fabric yet and I think the paper I was using may have been a bit thick as it was sketchbook paper. I'll photograph mine tomorrow and make a blogpost in the next few days.
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