Gelatine prints.

Although I have easily been able to resist fish printing I have been tempted to have a go at gelatine plate printing, even if only to work out the advantage over printing using a glass or acetate sheet.

There are numerous good tutorials and examples of how to make gelatine prints on the internet. There is also the ‘gelli printing’ plate which is made commercially and can be used over and over again. I decided I would at least start by making my own. I used a tin foil tray, two pints of water and four sachets of Dr Oetker’s gelatine. 

This is a fairly cheap way of experimenting with the process. My first ‘plate’ broke up quickly as I had not been able to wait long enough for a really good set. The first run was with water based printing ink and the next with acrylic paints. I used a range of basic stencils which I had and a few leaves from the garden.

I then made the prints into a small book and on those pieces which I had not printed on both sides I added some fabric decorated with acrylic inks.

 If you have not tried this I would definitely recommend it. It was cheap fun with nice detailed results. I am sure there is lots more fun to be had with further experiments. More recently I had to leave the plate in the fridge for a few days and that one quickly developed a big crack. I think you have to live with the unpredictability of this method. You can reuse the gelatine by breaking it up and putting it in the microwave for a few minutes.
So far I have had no luck using this method on fabric. I used a fairly thick cotton and I think a thinner material would have had a better outcome.