Stencils are perfectly suited to use with the gel plate, and you can achieve many different patterns and designs with them, with the simplest of techniques!
Also, you can get oodles of prints from each use!
1. Brayer layer of paint onto gel plate
2. Lay stencil onto gel plate
3. Use a previous printed page, lay face down on top of stencil. Thin pages work best for this. Burnish into all the stencil openings.
4. Pull the print. This will be printed with the negative spaces of the stencil and is print #1
5. Remove stencil and quickly lay on top of another preprinted sheet and burnish. The stencil image will be light, but this will be print #2
6. Lay the stencil paint side up underneath your ‘clean off’ page. As you clean off your brayer in subsequent steps you will create print #3
7. Quickly lay a fresh sheet down on the gel plate and burnish.
8. Pull the print. This will be print #4
9. Lay another sheet down on the gel plate. This will be print #5
10. Without cleaning the plate, brayer on paint in another color
11. Lay on a fresh sheet, burnish, and pull print #6
12. Add another sheet of paper to the gel plate to pick up the ghost print. Some remains of the stencil will likely still be visible. This will be print #7!
Seven prints from one stencil use! Depending how much paint remains on your plate, continue steps 10-12 repeatedly!
There are tons of fun ways to change up the look! Just play around with it! Try layering two stencils together, one with large open spaces and the other with smaller openings. Or try shifting the stencil a bit before taking a second print on the same paper. Another thing you can try is after Step 4, leave the stencil in place and add a contrasting color of paint, brayer onto plate right on top of the stencil. Repeat Step 3, then continue as before. The resulting print #4 will have a hint of that second color.
It is as those layers build that I am most satisfied with my print. So I just keep layering onto the paper until I am happy with it. Sometimes my ‘clean up’ papers are my very favorite!
What is your favorite gel plate technique?
Robin
lovely work…..would like to do some too!!