Mixed Media Printmaking Blog

Gelatin Printing a great way to try out printmaking

monotype print / Linda Germain / October 5, 2017

I love that gelatin printmaking makes printmaking accessible to folks who:

don’t have a printing press
have little experience
want to explore printmaking at home

You can see the basic moves in this short video.

On October 14th, at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, MA, I will be teaching a full day gelatin printmaking class. This is a great opportunity to try out the method without having to buy all the tools first.

I will provide all that you need to explore gelatin printmaking for the day.

Check out the gelatin printing workshop details and join us for this full day on location course.

We will use:

water based ink
gelatin and glycerin plate
stencils, like the ferns above
paper stencils and
found stencils like feather
stamping tools to lift and apply ink
drawing paper

You will have plenty of time to explore and experiment. I hope to see you on October 14th at the Museum of Printing. Claim your space today – click here for details and to register.

This is a palette with some ink and brayers ready for printing with the gelatin plate.

This image shows the 2 basic styles of impressions that you can make with stencils and stamping tools and the gelatin plate. On the right is the dark blue “shaped impression”. It is the shape to the grasses in white. I call the print on the left, the detailed impression. This is because it captures the details that the grass made in the ink.

And these are all made quite quickly with mere hand pressure.

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Stock up on ART supplies or NOT?

tools / Linda Germain / October 3, 2017

I have decided that it is better to buy just what I need and not to stock up on art supplies, especially if they are “perishable.”

It is hard to resist a sale. Hard to not up the online order to get free shipping. But if the ink dries out before I can use it then it was not really a savings.

I love ink in tubes. It is so easy to dispense just a little and they don’t dry out as fast as jars.

Sometimes I even cut the tubes and use every last drop.

With the speedball water based block printing ink I can cover the open end with plastic wrap and a clip and make them last even longer.

It is hard to make good prints with globby ink.

Is your studio filled with:

things that you love and use
things that inspire you
things that you might use
things that you have had for years and not used yet?

No judgement here.

When I look around my studio I realize that I have a lot of all those things. My plan is to get rid of the “might use” and “had for years” to create space for what I do.

This desire also informs my buying decisions. Because when I throw away dried up and unused supplies, if feels like I am throwing away money.

Off to sort through the good, bad and the ugly in my studio.

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a Gelatin Printmaking Tip

gelatin print tips / Linda Germain / October 2, 2017

One way to work up an image when you are gelatin printing is to ink sections of the plate rather than cover the whole plate with a thin layer of ink.

This will allow for:

Interesting division of space
More control over layers
A stronger range of value – dark to light

Today I printed on 4 sheets of paper with a couple of fresh leaves and mostly red, yellow and orange speedball water based block printing inks,

I did not have a plan. I just wanted to play with working with:

limited stencils
a couple of colors and
working parts of plate separately

I collected all the detailed impressions on one sheet of paper.

This one was a “catch all” sheet of paper and I did not print with a lot of intention and in the end it all came together. I think that is an important approach to gelatin printmaking.

“Let go and be in the flow.”

If you would like some more guidance on gelatin plate printmaking then check out the online self study workshop – Gelatin Printmaking.

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Gather greens and ferns for printing

stencils / Linda Germain / October 1, 2017

I love to use natural materials with the gelatin printmaking process.

The 2 prints on the right were made with real grasses and ferns. I love how the gelatin plate allows the printmaker to capture the delicate details of the natural material, and with mere hand pressure.

You can even use ferns and natural materials when printing on fabric with ink and the gelatin plate.

All grasses, leaves and ferns are not the same. You want to choose very flat materials with interesting shapes and textures.

I like to gather strong ferns and a few interesting leaves in the fall. At that time of year the ferns are still strong and flexible. If the ferns are still green then it is a great time to preserve them in a one part glycerin and 2 parts water bath for a few days.

open the ends of the leaves so they can absorb the glycerin

Gently break the ends of the ferns and leaves so the the glycerin and water mixture can be absorbed by the plant.

If the leaves are not preserved they will quickly curl and will not be good for printmaking with the gelatin plate.

The fern on the left was preserved and it maintained its shape. I was able to use that fern for about 6 months.

One other thing I like about that fern on the left is the uneven and imperfect negative spaces between the branches of the fern. I think that kind of negative space makes for a more interesting impression.

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Seasonal changes in Art making Inspiration

inspiration / Linda Germain / September 26, 2017

Does your art making vary with the seasons?
Do you have outside and inside projects?
Does the changes in weather and atmosphere affect you tools or ideas?

As the fall weather settles in on New England, I get inspired to quilt or work with fabric and threads.

I always have cotton sheets in my studio, so plenty of white fabric to do some experimental dyeing with. I got a bottle of liquid Rit Dye, a mason jar, and some salt. And then I had some fun folding, twisting and tying some small pieces of fabric.

I think they will be pieced together to make some sort of quilt.

With the same kind of inside nesting instinct, I have been stitching some small denim patches. Not really sure what I am going to do with them, but I like looking at them. So maybe they will become a placemat. That way I can enjoy them everyday.

It was also time to make a new gelatin plate. I had some plates that had been unused for quite a while and I tried to melt them down and reform them but they were just too fragile. So now let the fun begin with this fresh new gelatin plate!

Maybe some holiday cards or a new freshly preserved fern?

I also have a few things that I am working on that have deadlines coming up.

This image is about the theme, “what’s in my garden?” I don’t have a garden, but I am attracted to the cast shadows of roadside flowers and weeds, as I go on my regular cycling routes.

Do you remember the inspiring 1200 foot wall I saw last spring at the Children’s Hospital in Boston?

The other thing I am exploring is a book with the theme, “When I was 57” That is my current age and some changes are happening this year that I giving me reason to think about what is important.

I am thinking about making the book pages in the shape of 57.

How is your art practice changing with the seasons?
Would it benefit from a seasonal adjustment or inspiration?
Could you feed your art practice with some new ideas, or tools?

Enjoy!

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