Exploring Colour Mixing With The Gelli Arts® Printing Plate by Marsha Valk

Hi there! Happy New Year!

It’s Marsha here today, sharing an idea for exploring colour without thinking about colour theory.

Are you a limited palette lover or a multicolour gel printer? And, do you like to use paint colours straight out of the tube, or do you like colour mixing?

It’s no secret that I like gel printing with a limited palette. However, I’m not a huge colour mixer. I usually go for tube colours because it’s easy and fast.

There is a downside, though, too. The result can look busy, clashy and not very harmonious. So, if you’d like to level up your gel printing game, mixing your colours with intention can be a great place to start!

In the video, I’m not going into colour theory. Colour theory can be very helpful, and I recommend looking into it. However, paint pigments don’t always behave like you’d think based on the colour theory.

So you can learn just as much and even more from playing with your paints and paying attention to what happens when they mix.

Gel printing with those mixed colours will not only help you discover hues, tints, tones, and shades but perhaps also some exciting new colour combos!

To start, choose three or four tubes of paint plus white. You can also add black to the mix if you want.

I took three tubes of paint from my stash that I rarely use. If you’re new to colour mixing, I suggest starting with yellow, blue, red or magenta + white/black.

I’m printing on 5″x7″ envelopes so I can create an easy accordion fold.

Stick to printing on one side of each envelope first, allowing the thin paper to dry between pulls.

Paint can accumulate on the sides of the brayer when you mix colours directly on the plate. The excess paint on the brayer can create unwanted lines, so wipe it off in between pulls.

It might be helpful to mix the paint on a palette or a second gel plate before rolling it onto the gel plate you’re printing with.

Once you’ve got a variety of colours on each side of each envelope, you can stop and assemble the accordion fold by using the flaps to attach each envelope to the next one.

You can always add more gel-printed layers to the assembled accordion fold and/or bring in other media to see if you can match some of the colours used.

Treat it like an art journal or sketchbook, or keep it as a colour reference!