Hi there! Marsha here today, sharing a fun technique for adding handmade marks and textures to your gel prints.
Gel printing with oil or wax pastel rubbings is super fun, but have you ever considered using crayons to print not just found but also hand-drawn textures?
Click here to watch the YouTube tutorial: https://youtu.be/vDfbeFa_SLY?si=ZStJPpRbgTmlMyV1
This gel print resist technique works with most wax and oil-based crayons and pastels.
Water-soluble pastels, however, aren’t suitable as they don’t resist acrylic paint.
Some regular crayons and oil pastels will give better results than others. You’ll have to test your crayons to determine how well they create a resist on the gel printing plate.
Conducting tests also gives you a chance to warm up, practice the technique and experiment with the various marks you can make.
Write down which crayons you used so you can compare them afterwards!
Some pastels create crumbs that can stick to your final gel prints, so remove those stray pastel particles before you start printing. If your pastels are very crumbly, it’s best to use a paint colour that matches your pastel.
Once you’ve applied acrylic paint to the Gelli® plate in an even layer and placed your paper (crayon side down) on top, you only have to smooth out the paper.
There’s no need to rub or press hard. Make sure all the paint comes in contact with the paper, then lift the paper.
If you’re quick, you can pull a print right away. But if the paint is already dry, you’ll need a new layer of paint or medium to pull the print.
Or you can add a slow-dry medium to keep your paint open longer. I’ve found that this method works best for me.
TIP: You can use the same crayon paper several times.
Postpone creating anything intricate or time-consuming until you know what works for you. Once you’ve experienced what works, the possibilities are endless!
Think of lines, marks, and textures that are harder to achieve on the Gelli® plate any other way, like scribbles, handwriting, doodles, drawings, and hand-drawn shapes and patterns.
Combining these handmade marks with other gel printing methods and techniques is also worth considering.
Happy gel printing!
Marsha.
Materials:
Gelli Arts® printing plate (8″x10″)
Other:
Copy paper (80gsm)
Wax crayons, oil pastels (I used: Talens Wasco wax crayon, Caran d’Ache Neocolor I wax pastel, Talens Panda oil pastel, Crayola wax crayon, China marker)
Acrylic paint
Heavy-weight copy paper (200gsm)
Optional:
Textured items and surfaces to create rubbings
Slow-dry medium
Matte medium
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