Gelli Plate Printing Reality Check

Yesterday I created this gelli plate print which I really like. Whilst we have some idea how a print will turn out when we pull the paper from the plate often it's still a surprise as sometimes we don't press hard enough, or the colours are wrong - I recently found out that purple on yellow makes the purple muddy and more blackish.

 

I was inspired to create this vase collage from a painting I saw whilst out shopping on Wednesday.

Whilst creating this I realised that I don't have many brown prints or untextured prints so I decided to create some as I'd like to do more vases - a completely textured background and textured vase was too busy on the eye for me. A plain background gives the eye somewhere to rest and helps the vase to stand out a be the star of the picture.

I created some plain prints using the large 10x14in plate...

and some textured backgrounds....

So back to the stencilled print...here's the stencil I used - Debbi Baker gave it to me when she came over for the Gelli Party Play Date earlier this month - it is meant to be hung on the wall and you can see how big it is so the material/plastic is quite thick.

I didn't take any step by step photos of the technique but here are the results and the method:

1.  Have plenty of backgrounds ready and plain paper too.

2. Roll a contrasting colour paint onto your gelli plate then position your stencil on the plate.  Now choose either plain or painted paper.

3. Place paper on stencil and press hard making sure you get inbetween all the spaces:

You can see from these prints that sometimes I didn't press hard enough in places but I'm still going to use these prints and may outline the painted and what should have paint areas.

4. Take your stencil off the plate and you are left with paint on the plate that was trapped underneath the stencil. Be quick, don't dawdle - grab your painted print and press it down on your plate - press hard  and then pull your print off. Voila!!!

Results depend on how much paint is left on the plate - I may even have tried letting this paint dry and then adding another layer of paint before pulling my print - the blue print.

I wanted to show you the good and 'bad' prints so you understand why I was so happy to get a good one and so you know that I don't always get great prints - I want to be realistic with you.

Here are the prints from the one paint on the plate - 2 yellow backgrounds with alizarin crimson on the plate for the stencil.

This method is shown in many videos esp by Barbara Gray of Clarity Stencils - so check her out.

If you have any questions then let me know in the comments, I'm more than happy to help.  Or maybe you'd like to join the Facebook group?

PS  Do you love creating gelli prints?  Want a place to discuss gelli printing?  To show off your work?  Share your ideas? Discuss the pros and cons of different paints/paper/plates/tools etc?  Get some great ideas on what to do with the thousands of prints you have created?
Inspire and be inspired as a part of the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Facebook Group. I would love for you to join me there.