Printmaking: Mono printing with a gelatine plate

I came across Linda Germain’s blog Printing Without a Press via You Tube. Linda has posted a number of helpful tutorials to get you started. Here is her basic recipe.

Linda’s basic recipe:

Ingredients/materials

2 heaped tablespoons of gelatine per 1 measuring cup of water
non stick baking tray (the size you wish your gelatine plate to be)
cling-film
newspaper

Method

Bring half of the total amount of water to a boil in a pan
Add the gelatine to the cold water in a separate bowl and stir until dissolved, then add the boiling water to the gelatine mix and stir until completely dissolved
Skim any foam and bubbles off the top before pouring into your level baking tray
Once in the tray skim any bubbles off the gelatine by gently dragging paper over the top to guide the bubbles to the edge
Allow to set over night before use.
After the gelatine has hardened wrap with clingfilm and keep in the fridge.

[My first attempt I used a vegi-gell a gelatine alternative – but this didn’t work as it wouldn’t set. My second attempt I used powdered gelatine. I poured the mix into the tray but forgot to line it with cling-film so it wouldn’t come out, when I tried to remove it too soon! My third attempt, I boshed up the original gelatine in a pan and remelted it with another cup of water/tbl of powder, then poured it back into the tray but this time lined it with cling-film and left for 24 hours.]

First prints

I used acrylic paints for these first few prints. Acrylic dries quickly, but you can still get some interesting prints. I wasn’t really prepared for doing anything too adventurous, so my results weren’t that great. I also messed with the image digitally using instagram.