Gelli Printing

[Dean_Gretsch]

Anyone have any experience in it? I just bought an 8x10 plate today and waiting on my brayer to arrive ( tomorrow hopefully! ). Have been watching a few people on YouTube explaining their techniques. Looks like a good way for some abstracts.
Share any tips, ideas or thoughts, please!

 

[terri]

I've never heard of this. A plate, using a brayer...? Kinda sounds like an image transfer of some kind. I'll have to Google it!

....okay, so the little 4 minute video I watched had someone placing drops of paint on a glass plate, then using a brayer to roll them out, mixing a bit to get a pretty background. Then several stencil designs were pressed in. Some of these stencils were also painted on directly and pressed into the background colors. Circles, flower shapes, etc.

After applying several layers, a light coating of some kind of white medium was painted on, and then - yep, plain white paper was laid on top. (I thought this would be the time to use the brayer, but apparently smoothing and pressing by hand works fine.) The paper was peeled off, and the design had transferred to the paper. The glass plate can be rinsed clean and used again.

I'm guessing you could then paint or draw on the paper, once dried, and create something further. Paper type, weight, etc. would have to be considered in advance.

Interesting technique, one of those things that can inspire your imagination.

So - you get to show us your results! Sounds like it could be lots of fun.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

There are some very talented people incorporating design, color and textures into their black and white images. I haven’t seen anyone using glass plates. The tutorials I have watched use a gel material ( hence the technique name ) that isn’t porous. I will have to look for glass videos! Of course Amazon failed to deliver the brayer last night, so I will have to wait until after Thanksgiving to try. Fingers crossed!

 

[snowbear]

... drops of paint on a glass plate, then using a brayer to roll them out ...

Sounds like taking fingerprints, but we used an oil-based ink.

I've never heard of this, either, but I guess I'm going to have to explore it. Can't wait to see your results.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

@snowbear Most videos I have watched use acrylic paints, even in transferring images. It looks interesting.

 

[Rickbb]

Litho printing, used to be done with polished flat stones.

 

[snowbear]

Since another Jeep is out of the question, I put a Blick gift card on my wish list. They carry the plates, so ...

 

[CharlieKnox]

I just got into linocut printing recently and found it really satisfying. Watching YouTube tutorials helped me pick up some cool techniques, too. It’s amazing how you can create such interesting abstracts with just a bit of ink and creativity.

When I first started, I grabbed a lino printing kit from online - and it made the whole process way easier. I ended up making a bunch of prints, and the mess was totally worth it! Getting your brayer will be exciting; it really makes the inking process smooth.