Hi there! Marsha here today, sharing a fun idea of how you can use the foam printing sheets like the ones included in the Gelli Arts® DIY Stamping Kit.
These polystyrene sheets are perfect for creating easy stamps or texture plates for gel printing. They’re soft, so you do not need any special tools or sharp objects to ‘scratch’ into the plate. A pencil or a ballpoint pen will do the trick!
Watch the video to see exactly how I love to use these sheets to create fun gel prints:
Watch the YouTube tutorial here: https://youtu.be/2rCWq7N7L1g
The Gelli Arts® DIY Stamping kit comes with everything you need to start gel printing, making it the perfect small art kit to gift someone or to take with you on a weekend getaway.
The kit includes a card with a QR code that you can scan to access downloadable instructions and a step-by-step video tutorial by Giovanna Zara.
If you don’t have the kit and would like to try creating similar texture plates, you can use styrofoam plates, fun foam, recycled cardboard from food packaging, or you can try embossing cardstock or softer papers.
The Gelli Arts® DIY Stamping Kit includes some cards to print on. These cards are larger than the 3×5” gel printing plate also included in the kit. This means you can create prints with a nice white border.
I used a 3×5” scrap of card and a permanent marker to mark off a 3×5” area on my polystyrene printing sheets. This way, I knew exactly where I should place any essential parts of my design in order to have them appear on the final prints.
I chose a permanent marker because it doesn’t smear and it doesn’t make any indents in the soft foam.
Use a (coloured) pencil or a ballpoint pen to draw in the polystyrene sheet. Push quite hard to create indented lines.
I drew from reference photos, but you can draw anything you like. Draw from imagination, trace an image onto them or fill the sheets with doodles. Try creating indented marks in the soft foam using different objects.
You can use your ‘stamp’ over and over. The subsequent prints often turn out better than the first one.
Don’t despair if the paint dries too quickly to pull a satisfying print. You can always use a new layer of acrylic paint or medium to pull the dry paint from the plate. As it’s transparent, with (matte) medium, you can even layer the new print over a previously unsuccessful one.
Leave the prints as they are or add colour and detail with your favourite media. Various pencils, markers and crayons work well layered on top of gel prints.
Happy Gel Printing!
Marsha.
Materials:
Gelli Arts® DIY Stamping Kit, all materials inside!
Includes:
Gelli Arts® printing plate (3″x5″)
3- 4.5×6” foam sheets for creating stamps
5 sheets of cardstock
Gelli Arts® Wonderland Stencil
Punchinella
Yarn
Scannable QR Code Inside to access step by step instructions, view instructional video and download templates to be printed out.
Other:
Photos by Jared Evans, Erzébet Vehofsics and Ed van Duijn on Unsplash.
Coloured pencil to draw into the foam printing sheet
Optional:
Scrap of card
Permanent marker
Matte medium
Coloured pencil, watercolour pencil, Japanese watercolour, watersoluble wax pastel, gel pen, paintmarker, water-based marker
FIND US:
FOLLOW US:
