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I don't have a Gelli Plate and have been surfing for alternatives as a result. I thought it would be fun to exchange ideas for other surfaces that you can use besides a Gelli home made gelatin plate such as glass or plexiglass.
General discussion of results with these alternative surfaces would be great too.
I don't have a Gelli Plate and have been surfing for alternatives as a result. I thought it would be fun to exchange ideas for other surfaces that you can use besides a Gelli home made gelatin plate such as glass or plexiglass.
General discussion of results with these alternative surfaces would be great too.
On the Mixed Media board of the 2peasRefugees site, someone said she prefers using one side of a Cropper Hopper paper holder to the Gelli plate. She credited someone named Sandi Keene for this idea.
I don't have a Gelli and have resisted buying one. I did get invoved in a challenge a while back to use an acrylic block as a mono printing surface. That worked out fine and convinced me I don't need a Gelli since I got some nice prints and then my usual patterned paper problem kicked in and I found it hard to use them!
I've attached pics of a couple of projects done this way and here are the links to the corresponding blog posts if anyone wants any more details
I know many people love their gelatin plates, purchased and homemade but I was hoping for OTHER surfaces and some talk about the results of those alternative surfaces. I considered buying a picture frame with glass in it from a dollar store before I remembered I had Plexiglass that I could use instead.
Angelnorth I love both of the examples you shared, they're beautiful. I'm sure anyone who received those cards would be thrilled. I will confess that I too have trouble using patterned papers but you might be "more afflicted than I am, lol. Thankfully for me if I made it then it doesn't seem to be hard to find a use for. I hadn't thought about using my stamp mounts, hmmm...
Is a cropper hopper holder an acrylic surface? I do have a couple of pieces of acrylic that I've used some. They were leftovers from when my son and I played with gallery glass when he was little.
Here is something a bit out of the box that I'd love to try using Styrofoam:
Problem is I don't have any Styrofoam in the house. We almost never eat out and since the stuff doesn't break down in landfills I buy paper plates only. Kinda made a big deal about it with dh when I switched so can't change my mind now.
flat linoleum should work. You may be able to find an off cut. It is the traditional crafting way to print, I still have one of my cuts from a bazillion years ago.
Maybe you could try one of those cheapy plastic/vinyl folders from the office supply section? Making sure it's a completely smooth folder and not textured of course
I tried using a silicone pad like you'd put on a baking sheet - it did work for taking the prints, but it was ridged on one side, so that texture came through in the print. Not a bad thing, since it added interest... would a teflon sheet work with acrylic? I use mine a lot for watercolor printing...
Terra cotta may be too absorbent, but a glossy ceramic tile should work. They are cheap too, easy to clean, and lots of different sizes! I keep a 6" square one on my desk to use as a palette with alcohol and watercolor markers.
You kind of want that same material as a gelli plate though don't you? Would paint kind of bead up on a glassy/ceramic surface? Don't you kind of need the adhesion of the gelli surface to pull a good print?
You kind of want that same material as a gelli plate though don't you? Would paint kind of bead up on a glassy/ceramic surface? Don't you kind of need the adhesion of the gelli surface to pull a good print?
A lot of the proponents of the gelli plate I have seen are artists (as in make their living doing art that sells at galleries and shows) so I think they must find it an easier medium than some of the work through and the traditional block printing from linoleum. Probably the give in the surface allows for more precise manipulation of the paints. If you wanted to print through a stencil you would probably get better contact on a gelli plate compared to all the other surfaces we have mentioned.
Is a cropper hopper holder an acrylic surface? I do have a couple of pieces of acrylic that I've used some.
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I assume it is, some form of plastic: Cropper Hopper - Vertical Storage System
Is a cropper hopper holder an acrylic surface? I do have a couple of pieces of acrylic that I've used some.
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I assume it is, some form of plastic: Cropper Hopper - Vertical Storage System
A Cuttlebug plate would be. Obviously you would want to use one of the base ones and clean it well.
You kind of want that same material as a gelli plate though don't you? Would paint kind of bead up on a glassy/ceramic surface? Don't you kind of need the adhesion of the gelli surface to pull a good print?
It didn't bead on my acrylic block with the exception of one metallic paint that seemed a bit thinner than the others and didn't want to play nice. Julie Werner has a tutorial on monopriting that's been in the Tutorials section here for ages (five years or so, judging by the dates on the comments!) - she uses pigment inks on glass and it doesn't look like anything beads up. It's here if you haven't seen it.
I suspect it's a case of experimenting a bit. I have the impression that the Gelli surface gives you a bit more "open" time so you may need to work a bit faster if you're using something like glass or an acrylic block.
Would paint kind of bead up on a glassy/ceramic surface? Don't you kind of need the adhesion of the gelli surface to pull a good print?
Other surfaces work fine in most cases and have been used and taught for centuries by professional Artists. Thanks for the link I'm off to take a look now Anglelnorth.
Here are some samples of what I did using cheap craft paints and an acrylic surface and these were my first ever attempts:
I also wanted to mention that I'd seen it mentioned somewhere that a sheet of craft foam could be used and for a permanent pattern you can scratch designs into it. I would think it would need more ink/paint though and have very little open time before it dried onto the foam.
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A Cuttlebug plate would be. Obviously you would want to use one of the base ones and clean it well
Unless you wanted all the lines and patterns from the cutting plate to show up, lol.
Well duh linoleum, of course... never occurred to me.
I stopped at our Habitat for Humanity Re-Store on the way to swimming lessons today. Picked up a linoleum tile, a smooth ceramic tile, and a textured porcelain tile. All 12x12. $1 each. I've seen them cheaper there before, but it was still a decent price.
I need to design a couple projects for a Blendabilities class, and then I will play with my new surfaces!
You can take alcohol marker prints from a ceramic tile, too... scribble on the tile, spritz with rubbing alcohol, and lay your paper into the ink. You know... in case you want to play with your Blendies and tiles at the same time...
Thanks Lylacfey! It's just a small 8 x 10 piece of 1/4 inch plastic that I had in my stash.
I tried my hand at mono printing on a very thin piece of craft foam yesterday and it worked, although I would probably use a slightly thicker piece next time if I'm going to emboss the foam because it warped and even tore in one spot. I cut the piece of foam slightly bigger than my embossing folder, then ran it thru. At this point I walked away for a while and let the foam alone for a while so it would flatten back out some.
When I was ready to ink it up I first gave the foam a light spritz with water, I was hoping it would help keep it from absorbing the paint before I could press the paper to it. It's summer here in Texas and that means 100 temps with fans and a/c running constantly, another words virtually no open time. Miracle do happen though - I managed to get 4 prints from one inking. Next time I would probably not use anywhere as much paint though as there was too much on the first print to see the embossing. Here is a picture: (ignore the bird, I was trying out a new stencil and had forgotten to take pic of the background beforehand)
I really love them. I love the bird the most. I love how you highlighted his tail feathers.
Do I ever know what you mean about the heat and no open time. It is miserable here. I thought about playing with some mono printing this weekend. I don't want to go find the supplies and my open time would probably be until the next polar vortex came through, ROFL!
I'm loving all the alternate surfaces we've come up with. Thank you so much for brain storming with me. Can't wait till things slow down some so I can try some of these ideas out!
I'm still hoping to get hold of some styrofoam, it especially intrigues me.
Does anyone still have what they call a pallet stamp? It is larger than a background stamp by a bit and works for a mono print surface. So, in that case I would agree with an earlier poster that a plumbers gasket would work fantastic as it would be an even bigger surface.
Never heard of a pallet stamp but I'm thinking you are right plumbers gasket would be a nice surface to mono print on.
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put styrofoam in a zip lock bag and used that as her gelli plate
Why did she put it in a zip bag? I would think straight onto the foam would be a better surface, I'd be afraid inks and paints might tend to bead up on the plastic bag. Foam by itself worked great for me.
Never heard of a pallet stamp but I'm thinking you are right plumbers gasket would be a nice surface to mono print on.
Why did she put it in a zip bag? I would think straight onto the foam would be a better surface, I'd be afraid inks and paints might tend to bead up on the plastic bag. Foam by itself worked great for me.
Good thinking on the gasket.
Probably depends on what styrofoam you have. I have some with some big pits in it.
alternative mono print surfaces
