Gelli Printing is Fun and Addictive

Hello Friends!

One thing Lockdown gives many of us is time to try new things.  I have had a Gelli Arts printing plate for a little while, but it has remained unopened for fear of ruining it.  I know how ridiculous that must sound to some of you, but they're not cheap and so I became terrified of it, a bit like White Page Syndrome from which a lot of artists suffer.

The other day I decided to bite the bullet, and having watched several videos on the line, and on the telly, I decided it was time to leap.  After all, they make it look so easy, and this thing cost me money to just sit on my shelves!  I had everything I need to hand, so gathered it all together.  It took a few days longer than expected, though, as I couldn't find my Brayer.  Eventually, after starting a proper Brayer Hunt, and going methodically through boxes, it was found.  Print making could commence!

Here's what I needed to get started.

1. Gelli Plate. Mine is a 6" square

2.  A Brayer {I love this thing}

3. A glass cutting mat, optional but recommended, to protect kitchen counter

4. Selection of paint {I'm using acrylic here} and paper {you can use almost anything from tissue to watercolour paper and everything in between, except gloss surfaced, but I'm using ordinary letter quality today}

5. Some stencils or masks.

Later on, I'll be using all sorts of things, such as bubble wrap, corrugated card, mark making tools, stamps, and too many things to even think about right now.  I just want to get going on my first print!

First I opened the Gelli Plate, my tummy churning with anticipation and excitement.

Then I picked two paint colours, put tiny dots on the plate, and, with excitement mounting, I rolled the Brayer across the plate to spread the paint out evenly, and allowing it to blend.

I love how well it blended!

I wiped the Brayer to clean it on a piece of scrap.  This will build up many layers of colour and pattern over time and will eventually be used in a project.  The great thing is, nothing goes to waste!  Seeing how the colour has blocked tells me that I am using a highly absorbent paper.

Time to pick a stencil!  I choose this one with a skeletal leaf pattern which I like.

So, I carefully placed it on top of the painted Gelli Plate, covered with a piece of paper {you don't need to see that, it's just a sheet of white paper}

and after pressing gently on top of the paper using my fingertips to push the paper into the stencil to pick up the paint, I slowly pulled it back to reveal this lovely crisp mono print!

I removed the stencil from the plate to find the paint had absorbed into the paper where the stencil did not cover, and where it did cover the paint, the paint remained on the Gelli Plate, so

I just put another piece of paper on top of the plate and pressed gently again to lift the left over paint, and the pull revealed this yummy print

There was still a little paint left on the plate, so to clean it up I put a dot of cream paint, which I spread over the plate, pressed in a third sheet and the cream paint lifted all the residual paint leaving the plate clean to be put away until next time, probably tomorrow.

So, that's three 6" square mono prints, and I am out of the starting blocks at last!  It was amazingly good fun, less calories than cake making, {did I really say that?}, and I now have something to play with that yields great results in a short space of time.

Here's all three together for a better idea of how different they are

My mind is already racing with experiments and ideas to try!  I can see this taking over my kitchen!

Until next time

Stay safe and stay well

Deborah xo