Gelli Plate Printing to Create Beautiful Art

In less than two weeks, I will be starting up in-person classes again. And such an exciting class to start your creative year! 


GelliArts and GelliArts Printing, which I wrote about last week, is a beautiful art form. More of the terminology is located here: 

•       Plates: these are what you use to put the paint on, and create the designs. I have a Gelli Plate kit where you can make your own at home, before the class. Plates come in all different sizes, depending on what you feel most comfortable using. Most common sizes are four by six inches. 

•       Brayers: these are the tools to smooth the paint onto the plates. It is a roller brush. You can get them in different widths, most common would be a four-inch or six-inch roller. 
•       GelliArts tools or texture tools and items that you find around your home. Such object can be plastic forks, pencils, and different shaped cookie cutters or scissors.
•       Stencils: you can go down serious rabbit holes with stencils. There are so many choices available that you could spend hours picking up different ones.  Start with simple, easy designs, learn how to do GelliArts printing, and then go intricate afterwards. 

•       Stamps: this too could get you down the rabbit hole, so pick simple stamps to start. You can use rubber or acrylic stamps. You can also use found objects as your stamps, such as gears, dollies, cut fruits, or dried flowers. 

•       Paper: the paper you use should be able to get acrylic paint on it so card stock, 100-pound weight paper or more is ideal. Or use fabrics such as cotton, muslin, or canvas. 
•       Paint: acrylic paint is the medium of choice for GelliArts printing on paper. You can also use fabric paints. The acrylic paints can be soft body, heavy body, fluid acrylics, and open acrylics. And printing inks also work well. 

Why would you create papers or fabrics like this? 

As an artist, I love looking at the papers I create. They are unusual, and I can then use them in many different ways. I have seen people use their prints for wall art, on paper bags or cloth bags, journaling pages, and cards. There are probably as many uses for these prints as there are people creating them. 

My Gelli Plate Workshop is coming up on President’s Day, February 21, 2022. Sign up for the class and come away with artistic printing.