"Art is my vehicle through life; may we share the ride together." Ron Wickersham

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Gelli Printing


The new Gelli Plate is very popular in the art community right now. What is it? Artists have been mono printing forever with gelatin plates that they make by hand. Yes, they are made with gelatin (the uncolored, unflavored kind, not Jello!). In a nutshell, paint or ink is spread over the plate and then designs are added by using all kinds of texture tools and stencils. Then paper is placed over the plate and rubbed to "pull" a print. Unfortunately, the gelatin melts after awhile and needs to be refrigerated. It also only lasts a short while and another has to be made.

The Gelli Plate is revolutionary. It is made from a unique plastic that simulates gelatin but does not have to be refrigerated and does not disintegrate with time. With care, it lasts forever. So now, it takes just minutes to set up your materials and start pulling prints.  A word of warning - it's highly addictive!

I bought mine sometime before Christmas but have only had time to play with it a few times since then. Since I had a "free" weekend, I decided to pull it out and do a marathon printing session. What fun it was! Paints and colors everywhere. Papers in different stages of drying littering the tables, floor and any possible horizontal surface! Did I say it was addictive? It's also a fast way to use up a ream of paper! I printed on book pages, copy paper, card stock, deli paper and even the white backs of old, thin scrapbook papers.  Here is the result of my fun playtime (for reference, this is a 6-foot table).


Love, love, love it!

1 comment:

Miss Tracy said...

That looks like messy fun.