Portfolio of older work

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Monoprinting on Geletin

I don't think I have shown you my monoprints that I made with Beth and Rosalita.  On the whole, I was not excited until I pulled out my organza.  I love organza!  Please notice that I made two to three prints from each print.

1. First I use a sponge roller to spread the paint on the gelatin plate and then I put a resist down on top.  If it is something like string then I make my first print with the sting in place.  If the resist is bubble wrap then I press it down for a imprint and then remove it.

2.  Second, I place the fabric on the gelatin plate and rub with my hands to print the fabric.

3.  If the resist is still on the gelatin plate, I carefully remove it and make a second print of the gelatin plate on the fabric. This time you get an inverse image.  Instead of blank spaces where the resist was, you get a paint print where it was.

4.  Last, I try and print the resist item itself.  The bubble wrap or other objects that were removed have paint on them which you can print on the fabric.  The string can be laid on the cloth, covered with paper, and rubbed for a print.

All of the above give different effects but can look interesting together since they are related.  Here are mine.

Notice the gelatin plate cracked but we just slide the two pieces together and kept printing.  I like the look the crack gives.  Just more interest to the print!

Bubble wrap--here is an example of printing both the gelatin plate and then the bubble wrap itself.
Some of these cracks are from the gelatin plate but most are from folds in the fabric when I printed.  I like it!


This is an onion bag and a print on top of a print. Do you see on the right purple print where the crack in the gelatin plate has now filled with paint so instead of printing a gap, it prints a heavier line of paint?  I like it!  You might also notice on the purple print on the left that there was a string accidentally left on the plate and it got printed as a resist.

Last are these two that got printed on regular fabric.  Actually when I print the organza I put it down on the plate and then cover it with fabric.  You might be able to compare the prints to find which one belongs to which one.  I printed them on the fabric I had previously dyed with pink.  You can also notice on the top print that I did not clean off one color of paint before rolling on the second--you get a bit of gold under that purple.

The gelatin plate cracked into a dozen pieces by the time we finished.  Not a  problem.  I washed them all off, put them back into a sealed container, and placed in my fridge.  I'll melt it and put it back into a flat pan to reform the next time I want to monoprint.

3 comments:

  1. Fascinating!

    Thanks for visiting and leaving the kind comment. :)

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  2. I think I need to play with my Jello...these are lovely!!! Have you ever printed over photographs? I am just curious??? Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

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  3. Melting the gelatin is a good idea-I'll have to try that. I especially like the onion bag prints.

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