Gelli Arts® + Jane Davenport Gel Printing with Watercolours With Marsha Valk

Hi there! It’s Marsha here. Today I’m sharing my experiments with watercolour on the new Jane Davenport 8”x10” gel printing plate! 

The amount of water needed to activate watercolours causes the ink to bead up on the slick surface of the gel printing plate. You can still pull awesome textured prints with it, but sometimes the distressed, beaded look isn’t what you are looking for. 

In last month’s video, I applied liquid inks to the plate with a cosmetic sponge. This method works well for a watercolour that is already liquid, but, although it isn’t impossible, it is harder to achieve with watercolours that come in a small pan.  

The solution is to apply a barrier on the plate to combat the slickness, or to alter the watercolour to change the water tension.  

In an earlier video (link: https://gelliartsblog.com/2017/05/gelli-printing-with-watercolor.html), I applied dish soap to the surface of the plate. The soap created both a barrier, and it altered the viscosity of the watercolour. It created fun prints, but the results still didn’t look like a watercolour. 

So this time, I thought I would try layering different mediums to see if I could come up with a way to create a more predictable result.  

Watch the video to see how I got on, creating a mixed media gel print using watercolour pans! 

  

In the video, I’m using a Jane Davenport watercolour pan set.  

Before you start, you need to soften the watercolour cakes. I spray the pans with water, and I let them sit for a while. You can also use a dropper or load your brush with water and add a drop of water onto each watercolour cake. 

Use an old watercolour or soft hybrid brushes to work with. The gesso can be rough on the bristles, and you don’t want it to damage your best brushes! 

Try to keep your brush damp. 

It needs to be moist enough to release the pigment from the watercolour pan and at the same time dry enough not to create a puddle on the plate. Remember that the gel printing plate and the acrylic mediums layered on top do not soak up any of the moisture as watercolour paper does. 

I can’t wait to see the gel prints you create! Please share your work with us on Instagram using #gelliarts.  

  

Happy watercolour printing!  

  

-Marsha  

  

  

Materials:  

Gelli Arts® + Jane Davenport Printing Set 

4” roller 

  

Other:  

Jane Davenport Glitz Sea Watercolour Set 

Jane Davenport Mermaid Tail Swatch Stamp & Die 

Acrylic Paint 

Paper 

Scissors 

Clear gesso 

Matte medium 

Old (watercolour) brushes 

Spray bottle with water 

(Paper) towel 

Die-cut machine 

Transparency 

Sharpie 

Stencil 

Tissue paper 

Watercolour paper (9.5” x 12”) 

Paint marker