Making Textile Collagraph Prints with a Gelli Arts® Printing Plate by Marsha Valk

Hi there! It’s Marsha here today to share how to create a textile collagraph plate that you can use to pull incredibly detailed one-of-a-kind gel prints.

Collagraph prints are prints made with a textured plate. The technique usually involves a printing press; however, you can use a gel plate too!

A collagraph plate can be made from a variety of materials. In this tutorial, I’m using textured textiles that I cut into shapes to create my design.

I adhered the fabric pieces to my greyboard base with double-sided adhesive.

If you want the texture plate to be long-lasting, use PVA glue or gel medium instead.

Once you’re happy with the collagraph plate design, you can seal the plate with a layer of varnish or an acrylic medium to protect the surface.

This is optional. I did not seal my collagraph plate!

Gel printing with a collagraph plate:

1. Apply a thin and even layer of acrylic paint to the gel printing plate.

2. Press the collagraph plate face down into the paint.

3. Optional: use thin paper to remove excess paint from around the edges of the plate.

4. Carefully lift the collagraph plate.

5. Leave the paint to dry.

6. If needed use a damp cloth or baby wipe to clean the edges of the Gelli® plate.

7. Check if the paint is dry.

8. Cover the roller of your brayer with acrylic paint and roll it over the gel printing plate.

9. Place your paper on top of the paint.

10. Burnish well

11. Pull your print

You can use the collagraph plate over and over again. Vary the colors and use a cosmetic sponge to dab on a little extra color.

All of your collagraph prints made with the same plate will be different. None of them will be perfect. The imperfections add to the uniqueness and character of the final result.

That’s the charm of printing by hand!