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| Some of today's prints drying, with added slipper on bottom left! |
One of my favourite
techniques at the moment is gelli-plate printing. I’ve been teaching it a lot recently and
whenever I have a spare hour, it is definitely my preferred way of
experimenting creatively.
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| Applying paint with foam stamper |
A gelli plate is a soft
surface to monoprint on. You can make
your own using gelatine, but I prefer to use one made from some kind of silicone
made by Gelli Arts. It’s disadvantage is
that you don’t control the size, but it doesn’t go off, can be reused endlessly
and doesn’t need to be kept in the fridge.
Also it is vegetarian. Are you
sold yet? They are not cheap, but I
think having to keep buying packets of gelatine and other stuff to make one
would end up more expensive in the long run.
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| Gelli plate ready to print, with paint and leaves on it |
I really enjoy developing
work using the gelli plate, using ‘what if’ principles. Generally, the first couple of prints are
poor in a session, then I get into it and change the paint colours or the
objects I’m mark making with. So far, my
favourites are stencils, the plastic netting from orange bags, foam stampers
and empty tape rolls. Oh and of course,
leaves. You get fabulous prints from
leaves.
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| First print on left and how the gelli plate looks after it on the right |
Today I spent an hour
playing with a foam stamper, five colours of paint and two sprigs of
bamboo.
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| Second print on left and how the gelli plate looks after it on the right |
I mainly printed on hand
dyed fabric and got lovely effects on scrim and woollen felt. I wasn’t as convinced by the silk habutai,
but I think it was partly due to the background colour rather than the
fabric. Of course, you get wonderful
effects on cotton, which is what I usually use.
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| Printing from the inked up leaves |
Generally, the second
print is better than the first as it is more delicate. I also was getting a third print from the
bamboo leaves themselves, which were gorgeous.
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| Printing on scrim |
Gelli plate printing also
works really well on paper and on Friday 4 December, I have a one day workshop
on gelli plate printing and making artists books.
There is just one space left if you are
interested. The theme is up to you, but
it could be a special way of making unique Christmas cards.
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| Printing on felt |
Now I’ve just got to find
time to make something with these fabric bamboo prints!
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| Unsuccessful printing on silk habutai |
4 comments:
Perfect timing, Gillian! I have to do a mono-print for my next piece in my art quilt group, so I've been gathering info/feedback about the different types of plates and results on fabric. I think that the silk habotai can be resurrected with stitch -- on the leaves themselves and then echo the leaf motif in background quilting? Just a thought...
Thanks again!
Thanks Margaret. I definitely like the Gelli Arts plate - quite indestructible and long lasting. Though with a homemade one you will get interesting effects as it breaks down.
I'm intending to collage these pieces together to make a background, so the silk one may not be lost - it is just that some of the others were so much better.
Have fun mono-printing!
I prefer using the ready made plate too. This is such a versatile way of mono printing.
Thanks Maggi. I'm a real convert to the ready made plates. The variety and depth of marks is amazing and I love the quick results and that I can use inexpensive paint and fabric and still get fabulous prints.
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