Volunteer Gathering and Gelli Printing Event

Written by Margie Weeks  

A Gelli Printing Event took place at the Umbrella Center for the Arts Annex on August 28. The event provided interested volunteers with the opportunity to meet other volunteers while experimenting with a simplified version of Gelli printing. Kathy Warren, Volunteer Coordinator for the Umbrella, organized the event and instructed the volunteers on how to make Gelli prints.

Gelli printing is essentially a form of art called monoprinting in which a small thin Gelatin slab is used as a printing plate in conjunction with standard water soluble paints and a brayer to create images of all sorts. The gel printing plate looks and feels like gelatin, but is durable, reusable and stores at room temperature. It's easy to clean and always ready for printing.

Previously in order to make prints, you had to have a press to transfer the paints from the plate to the paper or fabric. Fast-forward to today’s Gelli plate, which allows you to create beautiful monotypes without a press. Basically, you apply paint onto the plate with a brayer (a small roller); put a paper on the plate, press with your hands, and the paint is transferred from the plate to the paper.

This is just the beginning ... you can mix a few colors on the plate and get a multicolor background. You can add texture by using stencils, stamps and all sorts of found objects, which make your backgrounds even more interesting. The materials the volunteers used to make prints included leaves from nature, a cob of corn, a string of beads, and bottle tops. The same paper can be printed a few times by creating layered patterns and backgrounds, thereby creating endless possibilities. The only problem this writer found is that it's so much fun, once you start, it's very hard to stop! The gratification is immediate, it's incredibly fun, artistic and easy, and the results you get are nothing short of amazing. Gelli printing is something anyone – even kids – can take part in because it’s so easy.

Of course, the results the Gelli printing artist will get are random, a feature which lends to its appeal. Although you control the paint, the pattern and the texture, you never really know what you'll get. However, on any piece, you can remove paint or change the pattern by adding texture if you wish. 

The volunteers who participated in the event had only positive things to say about it.  One said: “The Gelli printing event was one of the coolest workshops I’ve ever attended.” To quote another: “What was so interesting is that the more experienced artists and the less experienced all had very successful results.”

By the end of the get-together, several volunteers expressed interest in transforming their prints into greeting cards, holiday cards, handbags, and tee shirts.