Gelli Plate Monoprint

It's hard to imagine anything much more relaxing and fun than playing with the gelli plate. I've had mine over a year and so far I've used it primarily to make collage papers. But after taking Carla Sonheim's Gelli Plate Printmaking Introductory online class, I've learned some new techniques to use with the plate to make monoprints that are beautiful pieces of art in their own right. This print is on watercolor paper, made with simple handmade stencils. 

How to make a simple monoprint

This is a quick and easy monoprint method. Before you start these steps, you should prepare the image you want to print. Or, if you prefer, you could draw freehand. A drawing with interesting lines will work best.

Step 1: Put some ink on your printing plate. A piece of glass works well, or you can use a piece of plexiglass as you see I am using. I am using water-based printing ink here, but you can also use acrylic paint. Since acrylic paint dries very quickly, you will probably want to add a retarding medium to the paint so it doesn't dry before you've finished printing.

(if you look closely at this tube of ink, you can see it was $1.00! Clearly an old tube of ink, but it still works fine).

Step 2: Use a brayer to spread the ink evenly on your printing plate.

Step 3: Position the the paper on the plate, over the ink. Then, place the design/drawing you are using over the paper. Printing paper, or thin paper works best. I like to experiment with different papers. Here I am using tissue paper. Now, use a pencil and draw over the picture.

Step 4: Now you are ready to pull your print. Gently lift it off the plate to see your results. This is the magical part of printmaking, and what makes it so exciting, in my opinion!

And here it is. You can see the tissue paper tore a little bit, so it might be too fragile to be practical for this method.

Step 5: Now you should be able to pull another print, which will be a reverse print. Here are photos of that process. You can see the lines from the first print on the plate. And in mine, you can also see bits of tissue paper that stuck to the plate.

Put another piece of paper on top of the plate and rub to make another print. A wooden spoon works great for this step.

Pull your print and see what you get! Mine is very light. I think I should have used a little more ink to begin with, and not been working in direct sunlight because it was drying the ink out too quickly! But the weather was so nice today, I couldn't bear the thought of working inside.









Here are some other prints I did today. I'm hoping to use them in collage and mixed media pieces.

29 Faces Challenge: Faces 1-2

Better late than never, right? That seems to be my motto in life for so many things, including my art. So here I am, joining in on the September 29 Faces Challenge nearly half way through the month. I love doing faces, though, and this will motivate me to keep practicing them. Ever since I was a little girl, I was always drawing girls, and especially faces. Just ask my parents and my teachers (even some of my college teachers, I'm embarrassed to say). This great challenge is hosted by Ayala Art.

I'll start by showing two self portraits I did recently.

They are monoprints. The second one is actually a ghost print, pulled from the plate after making the first print. This process is actually quite easy, and fun to do. This Youtube video gives you an idea of how it works. I have to admit I "cheated" by putting a printed out photo of myself over the paper and drawing over it. And I also just made a tutorial to show you how I made these prints here:  how to make a simple monoprint.

So that's 2 down, only 27 to go! Thank you to Ayala for hosting this great challenge. I'm always inspired by other artists, and appreciate your comments.