Mixed Media Printmaking Blog

The Secret to Making Beautiful Gelatin Prints

gelatin print tips / Linda Germain / April 19, 2017

Gelatin printmaking is a low tech printmaking process that can give you beautiful prints with out needing a big press or printmaking studio.

The printmaking secret is:

willingness to let go of control
ability to embrace the uniqueness of the gelatin process
decision to make many prints
learn to keep what you like and
build on your strengths

This gelatin printmaking process is quite different than many printing techniques that require a printing press. It is:

spontaneous
immediate and
unpredictable

If these are qualities that describe you, your art making process or even something you admire, then you may want to explore gelatin printmaking.

It is printing on a plate of Jello®. But you don’t want to eat it!

The gelatin is a soft and malleable surface that can hold the detailed impressions that you make in it with tools like, paper stencils, real grasses, and head held tools like potato mashers and bubble wrap.

If you would like some help getting started with the process or help finding your voice and developing control, then you are in luck.

Check out the current online printmaking classes.

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Use your own photos to make art personal

Gelatin plate print / Linda Germain / April 18, 2017

I have found that when I use my own photos and tools my prints are much more meaningful to me.

Now this photo of my brother and his granddaughter was taken by my niece, and boy does it convey the love between the two!

I made a shaped silhouette stencil from the image and started to play with the possibilities this morning.

It amazes me that so much emotion can be conveyed in a simple shaped shadow silhouette. I can’t wait to play some more with this image.

That is kind of my approach to printing a series.

Make a lot of prints
Play with chaos and layers
Try simple and focused
And end up with a few prints that I love.

If you would like to explore gelatin printing making in this manner, then check out the details of the current classes being offered on my printmaking workshop page.

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Do any of these thoughts stop you from making art?

inspiration / Linda Germain / April 16, 2017

I am not good enough.
I might do it wrong.
I am not ready.

I must admit that those thought cross my mind quite often. That is hard for me to admit, because I thought I had moved beyond those limiting ideas.

Something good came out of this…

I looked for areas of my my life and art practice where those fears do not stop me. I found the following:

When making monotypes on the gelatin plate, I do not let fear of failure stop me from trying something new.
When I am in a workshop, because I figure that I am there to learn and discover and mistakes are part of that process.
When I am using a 20 minute timer to just get started and moving forward. I don’t have to finish or be perfect I just have to put in the 20 minutes.

This is a useful discovery…

I figure that if I can move beyond fearful thoughts in one area of my life then I must have the ability to move beyond them in other areas of my life. (Try making the list for yourself.)

What do you think?

Would you like to give yourself the time and space to explore printmaking with the gelatin plate?
Would you like to give yourself the space to make mistakes as part of the learning process?
Would benefit from the support and encouragement of an instructor?
Would you like to share your challenges and successes with a group of artists who are making similar discoveries?

This may be the perfect time to build your skills and explore gelatin printmaking. It is the perfect medium to get beyond fears that stop you in your art making. Gelatin printing by nature is unpredictable and experimental.

Check out the current online classes being offer now.

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How to grow your art making habit?

inspiration, monotype print / Linda Germain / April 12, 2017

I recently had a very enlightening experience with physical therapy for my knee that, I think could be applied to art making growth and habits.

I had been having some moderate knee pain for a few months and decided to get it checked out. The physical therapist found that my quad muscles were very tight and the opposite muscles, the hamstring was quite flexible.

So 1st week she gave me one little stretching exercise to do for 3 minutes a day.

Hmmm? I thought, how can this one little exercise possibly make a difference?

But I gave it a try and it worked! My knee started to improve.

How can this help my art making?

The activity was so small, so attainable that I simply could not, not do it! I easily had 3 minutes a day to do this one stretch, that only required a chair and a timer. It was so easy that I did it 3 times a day.

What if I did this with making prints?

How could I make it so easy to

pull prints
cut stencils
make marks
play with tools?

The key to adding a new art making habit maybe:

Make the new habit doable in 3 to 5 minutes
Do it every day
Pick something that does not require many tools or set up
Make the habit beneficial to your style of art making – important to you
Maybe enlist a friend or coach to keep you accountable

I came up with some ideas that would fit my style and will share them with you to inspire you to find your own new art making habit.

Draw something I see from the kitchen table. No judgement, and I may not even finish
Pick up a leaf, rock, stick, metal scrap or other found object on my daily walk
Take a picture of that early morning shadow that catches my eye

The drawing could become a screen for printing or the basis for a trace monoprint. The found object could be come a stamping tool, a stencil or part of an artist’s book. The shadow picture could be a masking stencil for gelatin printmaking.

By noticing those 3 minutes, I get a little art making in my day. And who knows, it is so simple I might do it 3 times a day. Then the more I do it the stronger my artist’s voice becomes.

If you like this day by day and do it philosophy then you may enjoy taking a printmaking workshop with me. I try to give you small actionable steps to building art making habits.

You are supported and guided to trying new skills and strengthening old ones. This will give you confidence to make the art that is uniquely your. Tell your story!

Check out the workshop schedule here.

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