Gelli Monoprinting

Fast, Fun, & Engaging! 

​I have long wanted to do Gelli printing, but my budget would not allow it. I was able to secure a grant through Donors Choose and got enough Gelli Arts Plates and Heavy Body acrylics for a class. Though I have done printing in the past, and monoprinting, I have never done Gelli printing before. Knowing the supplies had arrived, I shoed my students the new supplies, and a couple videos about how magical they were and I challenged my Art 2 high school class to search up new and novel techniques. I created a research paper where they listed the steps in the processes they found on YouTube, TikTok, or whatever social media platform they wanted.

I of course did the same and found some helpful videos like this one:

​My class had just finished exploring grid drawings based on their own photographs. Images of friends, pets, vacation photos, etc. So I wanted them to use the same images, at least once, in this new media. I created a shared Google document, and included directions on how to turn images black and white, and adjust their contrast to be very high. We found the best images were about 50% black and 50% white. Grays DO NOT transfer well, if at all.
 
While students completed their previous projects and were doing their research, I was testing prints. I came up with a 5 part, step-by-step guide for them. I also includes how they were to sign, name, and number their work. You can see that along the bottom of the steps guide.

​I told them to NEVER throw away their work, no matter how ugly. We found that after they got good at printing, they could put additional layers on top of early prints they did not like, and they got some interesting results! (If you have paint pens, those can be used to embellish “weaker” prints) I also explained, AND SHOWD THEM, that my first prints were AWEFUL. I have more than 30 years experience teaching art, So they should expect that their first print will be horrible. The next will be bad, the third will be *meh* and then they’ll start getting something interesting. They laughed but I showed them Failure TAUGHT ME.
 
Also, part of their grade was based on how many prints they made, not how successful the prints were. I have 90-minute periods. Prints need 20 minutes to dry under a heavy book. (That can be sped up with a hair dryer thought) With that in mind, assuming each student gets 1 Gelli plate, my students were able to do 2 prints per day. While they waited for their prints under the book, they uploaded new images, did feedback for peers on my project documentation form, or watched videos for novel techniques. They could earn additional points by using techniques I had not shown them.
 
The other thing I learned from all the videos I watched, and practicing, and failing is that image transfers can be very temperamental, but you can increase your success with 3 factors.
1. Run your images through a laser printer OR photocopier 2x (or more) This puts extra toner on the paper so it resists the ink better.
2. The amount if ink you use is VERY important. It must be very thin, and you need to work fast. If the air is dry, it can actually dry before you get your paper on top. I found that if you looked VERY CLOSELY at the ink on the plate you could see a slight textural difference that was key. If the paint was too thick, it left little trails on the surface, almost like wet fur. If it instead looked like the texture of leather, then it was perfect.
3. Ink, Press completely, and pull FAST. If you can count to 5 slowly before you pull the image off the plate, it’s probably too long. You must use the flats of your hand FAST to rub all over the back of the image when it’s on the plate, and pull it off fast. Students chat, lose focus, and then they complain it didn’t work… Show them how to work fast.

Run images through your printer at least twice!

Too much paint is worse than too little.

​To keep things simple, I required my students to do 3 layers. 1st layer was the transferred image. 2nd layer was to add paint and lay textures on it to manipulate that layer. 3rd wat the final color (usually white) to pull the paint off the Gelli Plate. Students could do more than 3 layers, or experiment with less if they had the required stuff done. (For me that was 5 prints with 3 layers. 90% of my students did more, some a lot more)
 
Gelli printing is fun, fast, and engaging. You do not have to print using image transfers. There’s a huge world of possibilities out there. Many people just use stencils, textures, organic materials like leaves and more.
(We used thicker paper to print with)

At the end, we had a lot of leftover paint. We took a day at the end to clean up all our supplies, and use the rollers to spread paint on paper to use for collage in a future lesson. Painted papers are always a good material for collage and I hate to waste good paint. 

​Below is my project progress documentation page. If you like resources like that I have them in my books The Workbook For Art Teachers, and even more in my Advanced Art Workbook For Teachers. 

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