Gelli™ Printing: Patterns with Peel-Away Masks

Create amazing patterns in your Gelli prints by printing layers with re-positionable, reusable, peel-away chevron masks! Watch this video and see how easy it is to print an intentional and complex layered pattern using peel-away masks from Hazel and Ruby!

What’s special about this technique is the amount of control you have over your final print, and how easy it is to achieve it!

Hazel and Ruby have a wonderful, on-trend selection of durable, re-usable, peel-away masks in a variety of images, graphic elements and bold alphabets in great font styles. Their self-adhering stencil mask material is also available in solid sheets so you can cut your own (by hand or a die-cutting machine).

Instead of placing masks directly on the Gelli plate as we typically do, the H&R peel-off masks have a low-tack adhesive that allows you to apply them directly to your printing paper—exactly where you want!

The H&R mask images and letters are fairly large—perfect for using with the BIG 12″x14″ Gelli plate! The paper I’m printing on is 9″x12″ Strathmore Bristol—to create bleed (borderless) prints.

All you do is peel the mask off the clear plastic backing sheet, press it onto your paper where you want it placed—then roll out paint on your Gelli plate and print as usual! There’s no need to be concerned about reversals.

After you pull your print, peel off the masks. They’re reusable, so it’s recommended that you replace the masks on their original backing sheet and clean them off right away. It’s easy to wipe the masks clean with a baby wipe while the paint is still wet. As seen in the video, sometimes they stick to the Gelli plate. Not a problem! They peel right off.

The real fun starts when you print additional layers on previously masked prints! With these

masks, you have total control over the placement of one element over another! Pull a print and when it’s dry, place more masks where you want to preserve the previous print image. When that’s dry, you can pull another layer on your print. It’s so exciting to pull off the masks and reveal the layered image!

The paints you use in layered prints have an important impact on the final print image. You can achieve beautiful colors by using thin applications of transparent paints on each layer. Golden Open Acrylic paints work especially well for this. My go-to palette for transparent pigments is Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Quinacridone Magenta and Manganese Blue Hue. I love the clean colors they create when they’re masked and layered!

You can get a totally different effect using opaque paints vs. transparent paints. Here’s an

example using various Golden Heavy Body opaque paint colors.

Using regular masks, it can be tricky to get precise placement when putting them on a painted plate. Being able to adhere your masks directly to the paper makes it simple! To get the effect in the print above, start with smaller circles. For each new layer, cover the previous printed circle image with a slightly larger circle mask.

So there you have it! Another way to create fascinating prints! Creating complex patterns from simple chevron masks can be just the beginning! These prints are a natural springboard for collage or doodling! This technique is great for everything from canvas wall art to journal pages, cards and more!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!!!!

Winner is Judy H!

 

And here we go with another AWESOME giveaway!

This prize will have you making large layered, masked prints!

The prize kit includes:

1 – 12″ x 14″ Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate

5 – Hazel and Ruby packages of Peel-Off Stencil Masks

3 – 4 oz. jars of Golden Open Acrylic paint

1 –9″ x 12″ Strathmore Bristol pad – 20 sheets

1 – Speedball 4″ Soft Rubber Pop-In Brayer

All those goodies—and one more FUN thing…

By request, we’ve taken our ‘Addicted to Gelli’ badge beyond the virtual realm and made it a reality! So we’re adding our brand new pin-backed metal badge to this giveaway!

To enter the giveaway, click on the red “ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE” button below! (This will ensure that we can contact the winner and that entries are limited to one per person. One winner will be selected from all the entries via a random number generator to receive this very special giveaway!) Entries will be accepted until Monday, January 26th, 2015 at 12 noon EST. Our lucky winner will be contacted by email and announced here on the blog and on our Facebook page no later than January 26th at 5 pm EST! 

Enter Giveaway Here!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!!!!

Special thanks to our friends at Hazel & Ruby for their generous donation for our prize.

P.S. If you’d like to add our badge to your blog—you can grab the html code from the widget at the top of our blog!

Good Luck and Happy Printing!