Gel or "Gelli" Printing - A forgiving Art Practice

Creating art with gel prints helps to improve your relationship with your inner critic.

Gel printing is easy and super fun! You put a few drop of paint on the gel plate, you roll the paint over the gel plate, you layer and press any type of paper on the gel plate, and you look at your print ... voilà! Then you may start experimenting reprinting over a first print with stencils and ghost prints. After that there's no limit of what you can do ... follow your creativity and let go of your fear of messing up or the expectations of the end result... just experience the process. You can experiment printing tons of paper. Then you can use those prints in collages, journals, cards, etc...

Here is the recipe I used to make my gel printing plates. I have made them in 2014 and still using them. Some of them broke which gave me the idea to cut smaller circles and make a book with those prints.

Homemade "Gelli" Plate Recipe

• 4 pack of gelatin (Knox) or 4 tablespoons

• 1/2 cup of hot water

• 1 cup of rubbing alcohol (70%)

• 1/2 cup of glycerin

Mix gelatin and glycerine together. Add rubbing alcohol. Add boiling water and stir until smooth.

Poor in pan. Small cooky pans are the best. But you can also be creative with your choice of mold/recipient.

Remove bubbles with paper towel.

Let sit in a cooler area for few hours.

*this recipe fills approximately 2 small pans of 9in by 11in

**You can find rubbing alcohol and glycerin at the pharmacy. They usually both are found in the same section.

Gel Prints Gallery

If you would like to have a gentle and kind presence to help you initiate the first few steps and experimenting life through the lens of gel prints, don't hesitate... reach out.