Image Transfer Galore! with Gelli Arts® by Giovanna Zara

Hello everyone, Giovanna here today!

Several years since the gorgeous discovery by Birgit Koopsen of the magazine resist gel printing technique, I am here with, I hope, the ultimate video guide, packed with tips, tricks and new twists about this wonderful technique. It was a while  since I made an image transfer, so the first thing I learned was that I needed a bit of practice: find the right paint, image, paint quantity, right brayering. But, when it starts to work, you really don’t want to stop. Expressly for this video I bought an old Vogue magazine from 2001, 600 pages full of nostalgia (and wonderful images) so the fun started the moment it hit my door.  

Enjoy the video ☺

Steps:

• Roll out a thin layer of acrylic paint on the Gelli® plate

• Lay face down the magazine image and smooth it with your hand to avoid any air bubble

• Lift the magazine page and let it dry

• Roll out a thin layer of acrylic paint on the Gelli® plate (you have to see the image underneath)

• Pull a print

Only glossy magazines such as Vogue, MarieClaire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar work with this technique, and you have to pick images with high contrast: for a face red lipstick and smocky eyes, for the clothes and background avoid solid white or black and pick instead patterned ones.

If you like to transfer laser copies of magazine images (to make a serie of prints like these butterflies) or your own photos the process is slightly different than the one with magazine images:

• Roll a solid black or blue layer of paint on the plate (but not too much)

• Lay the laser copy face down, smooth lightly and lift it straight away, otherwise the ink will absorbs the acrylic paint 

• Let it dry

• Roll out a thin layer of acrylic paint on the Gelli® plate (you have to see the image underneath)

• Pull a print

In the video I also made a successful print using Distress Oxides instead of acrylic paint, I also showed the variation with StazOn ink as first layer, and created a patterned shirt with stamps and transferred it.

MATERIALS:

• Gelli Arts® 5×7” gel printing plate 

• Gelli Arts® 9×12” gel printing plate

• Acrylic paint

• StazOn ink pad/reinker

• Glossy magazine

• White/kraft cardstock

• Laser print copies

• Distress Oxide

Instructions for Image Transfers:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ng0jwaf9gbajp10/Magazine%20Image%20Transfers%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3bx9l42fsqm4gw7/Laser%20Image%20Transfer%20Prints%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0

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