Gelli Printed Christmas Card

Christy Hartman

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Are you Gellin? Gell Printing is a form of Mono-Printing which has been around for years and

traditionally has been completed on a homemade gelatin plate made from Knox Gelatin. You

can find the instructions for making them on the internet with great how to videos on You Tube.

Joan Bess is the creator of the Gelli Arts gell printing plate which makes gell printing so much

easier. http://www.gelliarts.com/ The problem with the homemade version is that it degrades

over time and you can only print as long as the plate remains cold which means that you print

very quickly and then return the gelatin plate to the refrigerator. Inconvenient for sure! The Gelli

Arts gell plate solves all of these age old problems.

I first saw the Gelli Plate advertised in educational art magazines and was intrigued. I wanted to

know more about the plate and the process. If you go to the Gelli Arts website and blog you will

find a tremendous amount of information about how to use the plate. Joan Bess has also recently

published a book of many of her techniques. I’ve been a fan since day one, shortly after

researching the plate I purchased my 8”X10” plate and gave it a shot; I also have a set that I use

with my middle school students at school and of course a larger one for at home. You can

actually mono print on a piece of smooth Plexiglas, Stampendous has one available, or a craft

mat as well if you want to try this technique but do not want to invest in the Gelli Plate. Your

results will be slightly different otherwise what would be the point in purchasing the plate.

The process is very easy, it is a matter of placing acrylic paint onto the plate using a texture

method and printing it on your paper. Whatever is placed on the plate comes off onto the paper

exactly as you see it on the Gelli Plate. I’m going to share with you a very simple beginner

Mono Printing method where we will finger paint onto the plate to add our texture and then print

it onto the paper. I used the Americana Multi-Surface Satin Paint however any acrylic paints will

work; you just need to be aware of the color wheel prior to placing your paint on the Gelli Plate

otherwise you run the risk of muddy paint colors. To print you simply turn your paper face

down onto the plate and rub your fingers over the areas that you want to print. If you do not like

the feel of paint on your fingers use a rubber glove. It can be a messy process.

Take a look at my blog as well, I have a number of different pieces that I’ve done since

purchasing my plate. Your gell prints can be used in so many different ways but one of my

favorites is to use them as background papers for paintings or for card making. Since Christmas

is coming I thought that I would share with you some card making ideas for using your gell

prints. www.chartmandesigns.blogspot.com

Palette: Deco Art Americana Multi Surface Satin Turf Green#DA520

Cottonball #DA500

Chartreuse #DA517

Green Beret #DA521

Flamingo #DA504

Coastal Waters #DA523

Blue Lagoon #DA526

True Blue #DA528

Black Tie #DA539

Misc. Supplies: Gelli Arts Gelli Plate, any size will work. I used the 8”x10” size http://www.gelliarts.com/

Deco Art Media Gesso #DMM18

Deco Art Matte Decou-Page #DS106

Laurie Speltz Texture Foam Stamps www.lauriespeltz.com

Paper Adhesive

Micron Black Permanent Marker

1” foam brush, Make-up sponge, plastic straw, small round plastic lid for stamping

Creative Arts Creative Expressions Snowflake Stencil (#STCL112) www.creativearts.com

Creative Arts Creative Expressions Halloween Stencil Funky Town S103www.creativearts.com

Printer paper, good quality card stock, Deli Paper or tissue paper

Black Permanent Marker, White Gel Pen, Palette Knife

Brushes: Royal Langnickel Royal Majestic Script Liner #4585: 20/0

Royal Majestic Angular #R4160: 3/8”, ½”

Royal Fusion Deerfoot Stippler #R3650: ¼"

Kingslan Magnificent Mop R-4999: #4, 1

Let’s Start Gellin:

Begin by placing your paint colors onto

the gel plate, I use my fingers because I

want to achieve the texture that

swirling the paint with my fingers will

achieve. I began by placing Cottonball

onto the plate, working True Blue and

Blue Lagoon into the mix swirling the

paint until I liked the look of the

texture. I prefer to add my paint with

my fingers from a palette.

Next I added Flamingo into the paint mixture.

You can easily add more than one paint color at a

time and depending how those paint colors mix

will determine your placement of each color. If

your paint colors do not mix well you can always

use a neutral paint color to separate the paints. I

have chosen to use paint colors which mix well

together. Experiment with different paint

combinations and texture methods.

You will soon discover what type of paper

products you prefer to print on, I’d begin with

computer paper, it is inexepensive compared to

cardstock and will give you an excellent result.

Once you have mastered the technique experiment

with different types of cardstock. I always try to

print more than one copy at a time. It is difficult

to replicate the print and usually you will have

enough paint on your plate for two or three prints.

Place the paper face down onto your gell plate and print the area and texture that you want, I

prefer to print in stages and will move my paper around the plate to pick up paint and texture

from different locations on my plate.

You can see the stages of my print as it

progressed while I was manipulating the paint

and moving my cardstock around the plate to

achieve the result that I was hoping for.

Reapply paint as is needed to continue the

printing process, if your paint is drying too

quickly add a small amount of extender.

In this photo you can see the print coming

together; I love the mottled marbled look.

Another option would be apply your paint with

a paint brayer which will give you a very

different look.

We have now printed a few copies of your

background for our card. If you printed more

than one copy you have given yourself

opportunities to choose which background you

want to use and have a few prints for another project. Hint: Keep one available for next

month’s project.

Let’s Move onto Printing with Green:

I did not clean my gel plate, there is no need to clean

the plate however if you prefer to work on a clean

plate to it is easy to clean using clean water and a

paper towel. I left the blue mix because once the

paint dries on the gel plate the next mixture will pull

up bits of the dried paint for a very interesting result.

We are now printing what will be used for our tree in

the card design.

In this photo you see where I am printing onto

a clean piece of cardstock which will be used

for our tree.

You can see in this photo how the print is starting

to come together and if you look closely you will

see sections where the dried blue paint has come

off onto this print.

Let’s Put the Card Together:

Now for the final stage of the

card, I wanted this card to have

that dreamlike night time sky

quality and decided to add

stenciled stars and the moon

using my favorite star stencil

although you should feel free to

use your favorite. I also used a

small mini container lid to

stamp a few random circles onto

the background using Coastal

Waters and Flamingo.

I also felt that the background

need some black in it and

stamped black dots using the

Laurie Speltz Foam stamp and

used my palette knife to scrape some black randomly onto the background. You could easily use

a paint brush to apply the black paint.

I cut my tree out of my green print, used the back of a paint brush to dip dot the Christmas

ornaments with Flamingo and used my White Gel Pen to add the white detail. You could also

use a SL and white paint to complete the line work. I also

added black line work to the tree and using my favorite

adhesive glued it to the card. I then decided that I needed

some text on the card. I chose to sketch my text on a piece of

Cabinet Deli Paper and outlined it with my black permanent

marker. I did that

because I wanted to be

able to position the text

onto my background to

decide where I wanted to

place it, adhered it to the

background with the

Deco Art Decou-Page,

you could just as easily

transfer the text right on top of the background and ink it or

use tissue paper if you preferred. Either will work. The Deli

paper once Decou-Paged onto the paper blends into the background.

After adhering both the tree and the text to the card I used a small plastic straw to stamp random

circles onto the front of the card using True Blue, Flamingo, and Moon Yellow. I floated a light

shadow around the tree using True Blue and dry brushed a small amount of white onto the

bottom of the tree and foreground to give the tree a place to rest. I also stenciled a few random

snowflakes onto the front of the card using Cottonball, and then used my white Gel Pen to add

doodled swirls to give the feel of movement in the background and added additional line work to

finish off the design.

Your card is now ready to be sent to someone special for Christmas.

©Christy Hartman