Whenever I am at my local big box store, I always check to see if they have glycerin in stock. And if they do I buy a couple of bottles.

With pandemic many folks are using glycerin to make hand sanitizer, so it can be challenging to find.

1 – Make a long lasting gelatin plate

I use 2 bottles of glycerin to make the homemade gelatin plate. This is a malleable printing plate that is great for making monotypes with out a printing press.

You can get the FREE recipe and make your own printing plate here. With some time and playful practice you will be making your own beautiful monotype prints.

2 – Use glycerin to preserve botanicals

I use a lot of leaves and ferns as masking stencils. Some of these materials I have had for years because I preserved them in a glycerin and water bath.

Leaves and ferns can last for years and be used to make lovely monotype impressions. Try it! Get some instructions here.

3 – Use glycerin as a retarder with Speedball Water based block printing ink

For some reason retarder is a little bit expensive and only sold in smaller tubes. But luckily one of my students told me that a few drops of glycerin can be used to slow the drying time of the Speedball water based inks.

I use it for this purpose when I make trace monotype prints. I works nicely to keep the ink alive and workable.

If you are interested in learning more about printmaking without a press, then check out the current online classes.

Most recently I have been giving myself permission to sit by the lake in the woods. There is a tiny conflicting voice that is telling me to get to “work”.

But I am finding that the gift of that time by the lake makes it easier to get to work later. Hmmm?

So I offer you this challenge:

• Find some wilderness nearby, woods, lake, ocean, park
• Go there walk, sit and breathe it in
• See if this gift of time in nature improves your “work” time

I get many ideas and inspiration from the woods:

• stencils, weeds and ferns
• shadow shapes for masking stencils
• twigs and branches for relief plates

Hope I have encouraged you to walk in the woods today.