Printing with Gelli Arts® Gel Plates and Pigment Ink Pads

Hello and welcome on
the Gelli Arts® blog.

It’s Birgit here today
showing you how to create colorful prints using pigment ink pads.

I’m using my New Gelli Arts® 9×12″ printing plate along with VersaFine
Clair and Distress Oxides but you can definitely experiment with other brands.
I think the biggest advantage of using pigment inks instead of acrylic paint is
that you can use your rubber stamps to create texture without ruining them.

You could use your
brayer to lift up the ink from the ink pad and then roll it on to the gel plate
but I prefer to apply the ink straight to the plate as that will give more
vibrant colors.

Leave a little bit of
space between the different colors to make sure you don’t contaminate your ink
pads.

Then use your brayer
to blend the color. Make sure to clean the brayer in between colors to avoid
mud.

Now press texture
plates or rubber stamps into the ink to create patterns and texture.

I’m using some art
printing plates that I designed for Carabelle Studio.

The inks don’t dry on
the plate which gives you a lot of time to work and create texture.

Place your paper on
the gel plate and rub gently.

If you like to have
more variety in your prints you can create a “collage.”

Apply the inks in
blocks and blend the colors.

Then add texture in
small areas, you can even let them overlap if you like, until the whole plate
is filled with texture.

Now, instead of
placing the whole piece of paper on the plate, print in parts. Print different areas of the plate on the same
piece of paper.

Continue until the
whole piece is covered and then move on with the next piece of paper until all
the ink has been lifted up from the gel plate.

Now you have some beautiful
colorful prints that you can use as backgrounds, but the inks are water soluble
so the backgrounds are not permanent.

I like my backgrounds
to be permanent so I found a way to solve that “problem.”

I applied a thin layer of gel medium to the gel
plate and placed my print on top. I carefully rolled over it with my brayer.

I dried the print with
my heat gun and then repeated the process to make sure the whole surface was
well covered with gel medium.

When the gel medium is
dry the inks will no longer be reactivated by water or other media.

I hope you enjoyed
this tutorial and would love to see what you create!

Happy printing!

Birgit

Products used in this
video:

9”x12” Gelli® Printing
Plate

Brayer

White tags (8x16cm/3.15”x6.3”)
no brand

Tsukineko VersaFine
Clair : Verdant, Glamorous, Purple Delight, Cheerful

Ranger Distress Oxide:
Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feathers

Stamp: Falling Leafs
by Birgit Koopsen for Carabelle Studio

Art Printing Plates:

Circles by Birgit
Koopsen for Carabelle Studio

Patchwork by Birgit
Koopsen for Carabelle Studio

Stargazing by Birgit
Koopsen for Carabelle Studio

DecoArt® Media^TM
Matte Medium

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