Thursday, March 21, 2013

Gelatin Printing




I'm having a blast making my own masks, stencils and playing with my own homemade gelatin plate. Yes, someday I want to purchase the real Gelli Arts Plate, but right now, I'm having fun with this one. 

I made my gelatin plate about three weeks ago using 8 packages of Knox unflavored gelatin with 1 1/2 cups of cold water and 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. My printing plate was made with two boxes. Each box cost $1.25 + taxes at Walmart. 
I followed Linda Germain instructions:
 http://printmakingwithoutapress.blogspot.com/p/how-to.html
I've used my gelatin plate almost everyday for the past 3 weeks. When I'm ready to paint, I place my gelatin plate on an 8 x 10" piece of plated glass, when I'm thru painting, I remove the paint with baby wipes and then store it covered in refrigerator in the container I molded it in. 
I found the perfect size, it's a plastic lid with 1" side, 6.5" x 8.5." I love this size, it makes the gel plate 3/4" thick. It comes out of the lid with ease. 
For best results used a shallow pan that has straight sides. 

My gelatin plate has been remelted 4 times before finding the right side of mold. You can tear the gelatin into chunk into a glass pyrex bowl and microwave for one minute full power and then slowly pour back into the container. It must be on a leave surface and left until set and then place into the refrigerator over night or until firm. 

Do not try to move liquid gelatin. 


I'm using my Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter with .007 film or white card stock to make my own mask and stencils. Both work perfect.


The paint I've use; Eco Green or Golden Liquid acrylics. 
I didn't care for the bottle type of acrylic paints. I found out today, some tube paints will stain the gelatin plate.
When I took my gelatin plate to my mothers we used her Liquitex acrylic paint. It did real well but requires a lot of cleaning to remove the paint from the plate. 

You'll find many youtube videos and Pinterest tutorials on Gelli Arts and Gelatin Printing.

 Yesterday I posted a tag I made using one of the papers for my 12 tags of 2013 March #2. 

Note: on Facebook they say if you have a real Gelli Plate don't use glossy paper because it will damage your Gelli Plate. 


4 comments:

Heidi Bound said...

You made your own plate?! amazing!
Your prints are so gorgeous!!!

Rushd Lady said...

I have another friend that's playing with the real Gelli plate she purchased. I was wondering if I could find a substitute and you have it provided all right here. And to top it off, a girlfriend gave me an extra frig, so maybe I can squeeze some space in there for my art supplies too! :)

JoelMcBride said...

I stumbled upon your blog and this post in particular. I never knew what this gel printing was all about but now my first gelatin plate is in the refrigerator and I hope to give it a try soon! Love the prints you made!

Marjie Kemper said...

Beautiful prints, Judy!