Gelli Printing and collage

Last spring I ordered a class set of Gelli plates for my classroom and immediately became intimidated and overwhelmed with thoughts of managing a class using them.  I shared the process with my fellow art teachers and hoped I would find courage to use them in my classroom.  Baby steps last week when I pulled them out for the Art club to use.  Here are some pictures of student's work "in  the process".  I laid out supplies, stencils texture tools and other found objects and allowed them to experiment and to personally discover the limitless possibilities.  They printed on book pages, newsprint, construction paper and drawing paper.  I had hoped to have deli papers for them but the order didn't arrive in time - next time I'll pull those out.  WE had a blast!  Collages will be made using selected prints on canvas and also for cards.  Pictures to follow when they are completed.

We used large paper as a place mat to keep things
organized by student.

Playing with texture making tools both purchased
and made from old credit cards 

Adding stamps for mask and then stamping
on other prints to create ghost prints

Gyotaku rubber fish worked well, too!

Here's what I've been up to.....

Not so good prints

To begin, yesterday was a fabulous day, I posted myself in front of the big screen to view the AOE Winter on-line convention.  I can't think of a better way to spend my day than being connected with fellow art teachers from all around the world, getting inspired and well, uh, educated.  It's the next best thing to actually attending one of those face-to-face conventions like the one coming up in New Orleans in March.  One day I'll be able to do that, too.  Many weeks back I ordered a Gelli Plate.  I kept reading about them, viewing all these wonderful instructional videos and seeing some amazing prints so I just wanted to give one a try myself.  I ordered the 5 x 7 size and I am happy with my choice.  Upon it's arrival I immediately opened the package, read all the directions and sealed it back up leaving it to sit on the side table in my living room where it has been for weeks.  But today, inspired by all the wonderful of yesterday, I gathered up all of my tools and miscellaneous gadgets that might work for texture and headed to the kitchen table to finally try out that Gelli plate.  After a few refresher videos to refocus on the process I began to "play".  And, yes, it really does feel a lot like play.  First I attempted just inking the plate using printing ink.  Some of my ink has been around for awhile and either was too cold from being stored in the basement or was about to dry out because I really struggled with spreading it.  I used bubble wrap, a onion bag, and some stencils I found in a craft drawer to see how I might do with masking.  Quickly I discovered that I had jumped ahead of myself and I should be making my foundation prints using only color.  I think I learn best from my mistakes, it sticks with me longer and as we all really know "There are no mistakes in Art only opportunities for creativity"!  I eventually got the hang of the multiple layers of printing and masking to produce some of the effects I had seen in the videos.  Oh, and thanks to the Sargent paints in my AOE swag box, I was able to make some really effective prints using acrylic paint.  I did like the way the paint moved on the plate much better than the inks.  I don't truly know if it was because the paints were fresher or if paint is really an easier medium to use this way.  The yellow paint also stained my plate but it didn't add residue to subsequent prints so no bother.  I read that it would come off with mild soap and water but it wasn't that bad of a stain and I didn't attempt to clean it.  What was a surprise was that the plate picked up the ink from the newspaper I had laid out to protect my work surface.  It does not appear to come off but again did not transfer to the prints.  I had moved the plate off of the plastic surface I had it on to wipe up some ink and it was only on the paper a second...lesson learned.  Clean up was very easy.  I enjoyed attempting to pull as many ghost prints off of the plate as possible so there was not much ink or paint left on the plate to clean up.  I can't wait to gather up some more stencils and other items to use for mask and try it all again.  I do want to make sure I have a wider variety of colors available for the next round of printing.

Work in progress

Used for Ghost  Prints

Used for Negative Prints

Even the paper used to clean the brayer looks interesting

I like the weight of the watercolor paper for the prints much better than the lighter sketching paper.  Lastly, a few of my getting there prints. I had cut notches out of an old plaster credit card to use for the subraction printing, the curved lines, and the dots are from bubble wrap.  I cut hearts out of the stencil sheets just using small craft scissors.  So, there we have it.

Starting to get the hang of it.

Monoprints - City Lights

As a part of my November Month of Printmaking, 2nd grades created these really cool mono prints.  I loved their reactions when they discovered the image appear as if it were reflected in water.  A few students grabbed paper and continued to do their own additional compositions with more of a seasonal theme.  It's so much fun as well as rewarding when a lesson really goes over well.  This one will stay in my list of curriculum regulars.

Mono Printing

Have you ever tried mono-printing with the EZ cuts?  I used them several years ago and decided to drag them back out this year to use with 1st graders.  The focus was on shape and layering the prints to create an abstract product.

 I encourage students to try to create a composition, not only a series of shapes.

 Some students were much more successful than others.  This project always elicits oohs and ahhs as students are surprised by their initial success.  I wasn't quite as pleased with the transfers so for the next class I layered damp paper towel between the pieces of white construction paper to try to keep them a bit more damp.  Since my set up was a few hours prior to the actual class time, the paper was pleasingly damp and not too wet.  Much to my surprise the students began to print on the damp paper towel.  The colors were very vibrant and both the paper towel and construction paper went home as the finished project.