Well it is SUCH a long time since I have posted here and it seems I have come full circle and back to......Gelli printing once again LOLS
I have been running a few local classes lately and wanted to share gelli printing with my students, but the cost of the plates (particularly in Australia) are a bit prohibitive, especially for those just starting out. So I was racking my brains for alternatives other than the homemade ones and as the cogs turned, it occurred to me that perhaps silicone mats would work. I first ordered a silicone cooking mat and it DID work, but was very thin and had no "bounce" like the gelli plates. Mmmmm....almost but not quite!
So I kept thinking and one day I was in a $2 shop and saw a silicone insole for shoes. Had an "ahaaaa!!" moment and took one home to try. It also works but is very small, although oval is handy! Then I started to research just about everything made of silicone and eventually arrived at {{{drum roll please}}}.......... the sticky, non slip dashboard mats made for phones as per pic below. OMG they work like a dream and at $2 I can give every student one to use! They are also approximately the same size at ATC's so are perfect for experimenting. You can buy them online at Ebay and Aliexpress for starters, but Mr Google will help you find them - Sticky Dashboard Phone Mats.
So here is the proof!
This pic shows a very basic 2 layer print of orange, overlaid with blue where I simply scratched a design into the blue layer before printing over the orange. The details is AMAZING!! And just with normal acrylic paint too - not open acrylics. There are a few things you need to know however. The mats are SUPER STICKY when you first get them so you need to mount them onto a piece of persplex or similar and then push the mat onto some lint free material to DESTICKY them. That's a word isn't it? Then spread the paint onto the mat with your finger, as your brayer is likely to stick to the plate at first. Do this a few times and it becomes much less sticky and behaves brilliantly!
And this is what I did with the print. Masking off the shape of the goddess I then added painted and hand drawn elements with pens, paint and stencils. Stay tuned for future posts if you want to know more about how to do this!
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I have been running a few local classes lately and wanted to share gelli printing with my students, but the cost of the plates (particularly in Australia) are a bit prohibitive, especially for those just starting out. So I was racking my brains for alternatives other than the homemade ones and as the cogs turned, it occurred to me that perhaps silicone mats would work. I first ordered a silicone cooking mat and it DID work, but was very thin and had no "bounce" like the gelli plates. Mmmmm....almost but not quite!
So I kept thinking and one day I was in a $2 shop and saw a silicone insole for shoes. Had an "ahaaaa!!" moment and took one home to try. It also works but is very small, although oval is handy! Then I started to research just about everything made of silicone and eventually arrived at {{{drum roll please}}}.......... the sticky, non slip dashboard mats made for phones as per pic below. OMG they work like a dream and at $2 I can give every student one to use! They are also approximately the same size at ATC's so are perfect for experimenting. You can buy them online at Ebay and Aliexpress for starters, but Mr Google will help you find them - Sticky Dashboard Phone Mats.
So here is the proof!
This pic shows a very basic 2 layer print of orange, overlaid with blue where I simply scratched a design into the blue layer before printing over the orange. The details is AMAZING!! And just with normal acrylic paint too - not open acrylics. There are a few things you need to know however. The mats are SUPER STICKY when you first get them so you need to mount them onto a piece of persplex or similar and then push the mat onto some lint free material to DESTICKY them. That's a word isn't it? Then spread the paint onto the mat with your finger, as your brayer is likely to stick to the plate at first. Do this a few times and it becomes much less sticky and behaves brilliantly!
And this is what I did with the print. Masking off the shape of the goddess I then added painted and hand drawn elements with pens, paint and stencils. Stay tuned for future posts if you want to know more about how to do this!
Love your finished piece and brilliant use of these mats! I have those, believe it or not, and also most of the gelli plate sizes too. Will have to do a comparison next time I get it all out to play.
ReplyDeleteLOLS, well creative minds must think alike Aimeslee! Thanks for the note
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