CapallGlas

Hello;
It has been a while, but as I work on the larger pieces of the Horizon Project, I took some time to add some colors to my portfolio.

Gelatin Monoprinting is a way I use to get a break from the intense detail and technical challenge in the drawings and Celtic Design I love. The printing process is loose, and the results are easy to manipulate, but impossible to control. And the colors are beautiful.

Monoprinting means just one version of a print. Why do it for just one print? Try it and see. Each one is amazingly unique. Monoprinting can be done on many surfaces, with glass plates a popular choice. Gelatin Monoprinting uses a soft, gelatin plate which eventually deteriorates. I haven’t tried glass yet, but I’ll note the differences when I try it.

To start with the Gelatin process, pick up the unflavored gelatin at a store. Knox brand is the most prevalent in US stores, with packets in the box measured to 1/4 ounce each. If you are using another brand or buying in bulk, it takes an ounce of gelatin in 4 US cups of water to make a decent small plate. I use a 9×9 Pyrex baking pan for small prints, and it produces a nice, thick chunk of gel which is easily removed from the smooth surface.

I have also used 4 cups of gelatin mix poured in a large cookie sheet, leaving the gel in the pan and using it right off the surface for medium sized prints. My plates are limited by the size I can fit in my refrigerator.

To start:
STEP ONE: Place four packets or 1 ounce of gelatin powder into one cup of cold water to set for a minute.
TWO: Add 3 cups of boiling water and stir gently until the gelatin melts to a liquid state.
THREE: Pour into the mold you have chosen and let set in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours.

Yes, this is the exact instruction on the Knox brand box for making gel blocks with fruit juice. Except without the juice. It produces a large, rubbery block of gelatin. Pouring gelatin quickly results in bubbles. If you end up with unwanted amounts of bubbles on the surface of the gel, take the straight edge of a paper towel and draw it over the surface from one side to the other. It should draw up most of the bubbles and leave a smooth surface.

FOUR: As suggested by Betty Crocker, set the bottom of the mold in a bath of hot water for a few seconds, then unmold your gelatin creation onto a flat surface. I cover a drawing board with freezer paper or waxed paper and anticipate getting a bit messy. When I’m done, I pull up the paper, roll up the gel and paper, and ditch the whole mess in the garbage.

Onto the messy part….

When I first read about the process, from three or four other sources, I found the suggestion of using water-based printing ink. Good enough. Give it a try. Printing inks are mostly opaque, and produce a specific result. Transparent drawing inks create another. I have found that watercolor paper works very well. I have also used Bristol and some printing papers, though thinner papers don’t work as well for me. I also have had some very nice results from using textured Aquabord panels from Ampersand. I also use acrylic gessoed canvas, though the gesso can resist some of the thinner inks. My favorite surface to date is the absorbent panel gesso created by Art Boards over a wooden panel. That gets expensive, so start out with a selection of papers. Oil from your fingers can also cause some thinner inks to be resisted, so if you are going to work on a paper or canvas surface before printing, be sure to stay aware of how you touch the surface.

You can use cut out paper or stencils to create designs, blocking the ink from the surface of the plate, or blocking the ink from reaching the paper. Leaves, string and sponges can create textures. Roll the ink with a brayer, or just smear the ink around with your fingers. Cut the plate with a knife for lines which gather up more ink. Use a dull tool to make ragged lines. Wipe off ink. Use layers of opaque and transparent. The gelatin can be marked with something as simple as a stiff bristled paintbrush, though I’ve used forks and quilting templates as well.

Cut the plate into pieces and try using them to print. Then, after all that, throw away the mess and make another plate. I like to make two to begin the day. Draw something on the finished print, using the color as a background. Use acrylic gels, crayons and drawing inks to prepare a paper or canvas before printing.

To move from one color to another, especially when moving between contrasting colors, blot the first colors with absorbent paper or paper towels. Color blends add depth, but too much orange and green can get muddy. It is hard to actually wipe the gel surface, so blot instead. Lay a piece of paper on the plate and peel it off.

As the gelatin plate is used, it will add a bit of gelatin to the ink or paint you use, creating some different looks as you go. The plate will begin to fall apart, depending on how much damage you do to it in creating texture, and bits of gel can end up on your print. My suggestion is to wait until the paint is dry to remove bits of gel. A deteriorating plate can produce great effects with lines and gouges picking up colors differently.

Scrapbooking stores sell allllll sorts of inks, powders and papers to play with. They also sell stencils and adhesives. You can create papers to cut and past with this technique, and I first learned how to do it from some scrapbooking sources. Quilters will use this technique for coloring fabrics as well, utilizing fabric paints.

This isn’t a very technical explanation, so for those of you who want more info, I’ve included some links to some great sites. I prefer a loose and haphazard approach to this technique in order to indulge in pushing the color around.

http://harborview-arts.com/kathleen_garner/gelatin_printing.html

http://heatherthomasblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/exploring-gelatin-mono-printing.html

Gelatin Monoprint with Acrylic Gel

Gelatin Monoprint with grey crayon

Gelatin monoprint on Bristol

Gelatin Monoprint with India Ink

Just a few notes, so we all understand what I am talking about. This is a very quick overview, with little detail. Be sure to ask if you have any questions.

BLOCK PRINTING: This is a technique in which the spaces are cut away and show up as white or the color of the printing paper. The raised areas are inked. Plates are carved from just about anything that will take the carving. Stone, linoleum, rubber, wood, potatoes, etc.
….Woodblock: a block printing plate carved from wood
….linocut: a block printing plate carved from linoleum

INTAGLIO PRINTING: This is a general term for the techniques which require gouging into the surface that will hold the ink. Ink is pressed into the grooves and gouges, and wiped off the raised areas. Dark areas are created with fine crosshatching, or closely spaced dots which print black if done properly.

….Drypoint: A stylus of steel or one tipped with diamond, is used to draw directly on an untreated plate. A burr of metal is thrown to the side of the line drawn, and the burr also holds ink, giving drypoint a characteristic fuzziness that is eventually lost as the plate is reprinted. Copper and zinc are popular plates, but laminated cardboard and acrylic sheets are also used. The burr makes this style of printing very limited in the number of plates that can be run. Drypoint can also be used to fix small details in printing plates of any kind.
….Engraving: A sharp, specialized tool called a ‘burin’ is the primary tool for engraving. The excess metal is not thrown to the side as in drypoint; it curls up ahead of the burin, and then is cut off with a sharp scraper to leave lines for the ink that are sharp and clear. Lines in engraving are usually thicker than in drypoint, though some engraving tools can produce very fine lines if used lightly.
….Etching: Etching is the use of acids to bite into the plate and create the lines which hold the ink. A plate is covered with an acid-resistant coating such as wax or roisin. Then lines are drawn with a sharp tool through the coating to expose the plate. The plate is then set in a bath of acid, and the exposed lines are eaten out. Varnish can be applied to cover up marked areas when only a light line is required, and the plate can be set in the bath multiple times to create varying depths of line.
….Solar Etching: Solar etching plates have a specialized coating. A transparency with the drawing rendered in opaque ink is placed on the coated plate. The plate is exposed to direct sunlight, which goes through the transparent areas of the drawing and hardens those areas of the plate. Protected, opaque areas of the drawing keep the plate soft, and the soft areas are rinsed away with water. The entire plate is then exposed to sunlight to harden everything. Either block printing or intaglio techniques can be achieved on a solar plate.
….Aquatint: This is a technique of dusting a plate with fine particles of rosin, and heating the plate to melt it in place. When the plate is set in the acid bath, a fine speckling is created instead of crosshatched lines to create shifts in tone. By altering the time in the bath for the plate, subtle shifts in tone can be created with soft edges.
….Mezzotint: This is a very grueling technique in which the entire printing plate is covered with fine pits that hold ink, to create what would be an overall printing of black. Then, with burnishers and scrapers, the highlights are smoothed back out to be wiped clean of ink when the plate is printed. The plates are ‘rocked’ with a ‘mezzotint ‘rocker’, which has the look of a flat chisel with a curved edge blade. Sharp points along its edge create the marks in the plate. It is rocked back and forth across the plate, over and over again, until the plate is covered with pits that hold ink. There is a great deal of control over the tones in a mezzotint plate, and the dark areas are rich and velvety.

And there ya go. Lots of things can be used to make prints. Sculpting clay can be baked into hardened plates after the design is created. Objects can be fixed to a base plate and inked, creating a raised design, or Collagraph. Leaves and seeds can be inked and pressed to paper, and so can fish.

My cats have so far refused to take part in any experiments of cat-printing, however…

kjn