monotype print

Gelatin Printmaking is a great process for making one of a kind cards for all occasions. The process is fast and very satisfying. My biggest challenge is inky fingers.

You can always cut and collage pieces of prints from you existing stash of prints. To do this I like to make a view finder and crop them down to size.

To find a pleasing composition:

1. Hover over the print with the view finder looking for dynamic balance.
2. When you find it pierce a tiny hole in the print at the inside corners of the view finder.
3. Flip the print over and draw square cutting lines between the tiny holes
4. Cut the print to size

I did the crop, cut and collage approach with the cards in the image above. You do have to take care to make things square and cut straight line.

Another approach to card making is to print your original image in the folded card format. This is a good way to go about it if you want to make a lot of cards with a similar design. I used this method in the cards below.

I use a very strong Tyvek® stencil, water based ink and the homemade gelatin plate. This allows me to make a series of cards that are based on the same image, but all a little bit different. This makes the process more freeing and creative.

You can get two types of impressions from the one stencil. The first print is the one on the right below. I is solid black with the white of the paper showing where the stencil blocked the transfer of ink.

The second impression is the one that I really like. It is the print on the left. I call it the detailed impression, because it captures the details under the stencil.

This detailed impression can be unpredictable and challenging to capture. The ink needs to stay alive and stick to the plate rather than the stencil.

If you want to cut some nice strong stencils and pull a pile of hand printed cards, then check out the details of the upcoming online class, Hand Printed Cards + the gelatin plate.

hand printed cards online workshop with Linda Germain from Linda Germain on Vimeo.

Do you have daily habits or rituals in your art practice?

I like to try out new skills and techniques, and then decide if they fit into my art making practice.

Some things I have tried lately:

• stylized bird doodles
• painting watercolor blobs
• geometric patterns
• rusting paper
• found word poems
• fill in the blank

I think my habits change and new habits lead to new work. I am enjoying the soft cover coptic stitch sketchbook.

I make a new one every few weeks. I noticed that how I fill the pages has changed. The one constant is the plant silhouette.

I encourage you to:

• try out new habits/techniques
• look back at your work
• notice your constant (signature) mark making style
• Celebrate your discoveries

If you would like to explore some new techniques and book forms, then join us in the online Mixed Media Retreat. Read all the details on the workshop page. Class to be scheduled.

I am making the online class, Monoprinting Fabric into a self-study. So it is available now and when you are ready to explore gelatin printing on fabric.

• 9  online pre-recorded lessons with 27 short videos
• 12 different techniques
• short actionable videos to get you printing right away
• Ability to download videos for personal use

One student reports:

Monoprinting on Fabric has been a fabulous course. There is a lot there to keep me going for a very long time. I love your teaching style, very encouraging, supportive, clear and fun. Patricia G. from the UK

So if you have been thinking about exploring printing on fabric with the gelatin plate, then check out the details on the workshop page.