Pure Play - No Thinking Involved

My Favorite New Art Tool

I have been watching gelli-print videos for a while now and finally purchased a few of my own. A gelli plate is a flexible gellatin surface used for simple printmaking. I love the pure spontaneousness of the whole process. You cannot predict what the print will look like, it's pure playfulness; and really why would you want to, that takes all the fun and surprise out of it. It's great because it prevents me from overthinking the final prints, I simply can't.

The way it works is you lay ink down on the plate and spread it around with a brayer (roller). By using stencils and other marking tools you create a pattern or shapes on the plate. After it has some texture, you simply press a piece of paper onto it and you have a print. You may be able to get a few prints out of each layering of ink. They will get lighter and "ghost" as you lift up more of the paint. The results are amazing, and, if you don't like a particular print, just use it again, pressing and adding more layers until you like it, (or not). You don't have to love all of them.

The other thing I love about this is the cleanup; there is almost none. I lift most of the paint off the plate itself with your prints and I usually let the stencils and tools just dry. If the paint gets really gunked up and I want to clean the plate or tools, I just use baby wipes. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! You can use any paper, recycled junk mail, book pages or scraps from other projects. A great paper to practice on is deli paper; yes the paper you get your sandwiches wrapped in. You can get a big box and pull out a single sheet at a time. Deli paper is thin like tissue paper, but much more durable so it can handle paint well and you can use these prints in collages etc. I plan on playing with this a lot in the future because I can create so many prints so fast for a variety of projects. I am also thinking of experimenting with materials other than paper such as wood. Can't wait to make more! A good days work is always dirty hands, happy printing...