Find a photo with a figure that has interesting
negative spaces.
I have a play with gelatin printmaking day coming up on Saturday, July 28th and one of the participants asked about incorporating photographic images into gelatin printing process. So she got me thinking. I did photography long before I started gelatin printing and would like to see how I can combine the two. So right off the top of my head the first way I use photos is to make masking stencils. These stencils always make for more personal prints when the image is your own.
Here some gel prints with this stencil.
Print it out the size that you want
Carefully cut out the shape with a very sharp knife
Little details can make a big difference
Coat both side of the masking stencil
with mat medium
The Haverhill Farmers Market is open and filled with fresh veggies and interesting people. I got some snap peas for breakfast. There was a great drumming guy there. He gave me quick lesson – fun – but I am not a natural drummer. Off to play with gelatin.
So I learned to love freezer paper from a student I had up at Haystack, Catherine Worthington. She shared that it was one of her favorite studio tools. We used it to make masking stencils for gelatin printing. That got me to thinking. What if I printed right onto slippery paper? What would the ink do? What would the marks look like? How would the ink layer? I happened to have a pile of slippery card stock that I got from EXCL in Lynn. So I started to play and I ended up with some happy surprises. The paper creates surprising holes and dots and marks. It also releases some of the ink back on to the gelatin plate. So if you think it then TRY IT! Happy printing
