3D Illusion Gel Print

 

All week long we be gelli-ing :) Hahahahaha! Gel printing that is and today I want to show you a super easy to make 3D illusion with your prints. Supplies are basic: you need a gelli plate, brayer, paper, two acrylic paint colors and a bottle cap. 

Here I was working with my gel printing plate given me by Gelli Arts. Using my brayer, I rolled out a layer of Greenish-Blue acrylic paint from Amsterdam. Just two little blobs of color, it doesn't take much. Look at my plate and tell me what you see other than blue paint.  If you read yesterday's post you will recognize that design in the background. See the little blocks with the interwoven borders around them? That was in a lift I showed you yesterday. Remember I don't clean off my plate? I told you sometimes those residual bits of color left on the plate turn up later on? Yesterday I printed with a piece of material that goes on the floor under your carpet to keep it from slipping. That is the design you see still on my plate as I moved on to newer colors and prints. 

I learned this trick from Carolyn Dube. I love her work! Once I had a nice layer of that blue color, I added two blobs of the Reflex Yellow color also from Amsterdam right on top. When you roll out this second layer of color - do it gently. You do not want to push down hard on the plate because you do not want the second color to mix with the first. You want it to sit on top of the first color. I want to try this technique with white and black but I truly don't think I have either of those colors. Hahaha!

I mentioned a bottle cap? A medicine bottle cap would work great. But I had these little plastic caps with handles on them, so I grabbed one of those. If you have ever purchased a tube of Lindy's Magicals - this little cap is sitting on the top holding all the little pots of color in. Throw those tops in  a drawer because they work great for making texture in gelli prints. 

For this 3D technique, place the cap down on your plate and gently slide it to the right. Then lift straight up. That's it. 

I did that all over my gelli plate. Easy peasy. You can see the yellow layer on the top (yes, it does look green) and the blue underneath. 

Notice I still had my gelli plate sitting on my acrylic block. So, all I had to do was turn this over and stamp it on my piece of Bristol Illustration paper from Hahnemühle. And look at all the background texture I got because . . . I do not clean my plate. Isn't it awesome? This 3D effect would have looked totally different if I had done this on a pristine plate. But I do love it this way! I also did one of these prints in my ZigZag book I showed you a few days ago. 

A narrower page so I couldn't fit two full circles. Let me show you what I did with the page. 

Yes, I covered most of it up and that's alright. A little Zetti art was waiting to happen. Hahahaha! 

I hope you will try this 3D illusion with your own gelli plate. Like I said - supplies are minimal. This page could totally be tangled. I am thinking a little neurotangling on mine with a white pen in the dark places and a black pen in the lighter areas. What do you think? 

All week I will be talking about Gelli plates because Gelli Arts hooked me up real good! And I am using Hahnemühle papers for my base because. . . . there isn't any finer papers anywhere. 

You can purchase Gelli Arts gel printing plates by clicking here. 

Bristol Illustration paper from Hahnemühle can by purchased here.