Gelli Printing with Metallic Powders
When I was planning my Christmas mobile for this year I felt it needed some accent pieces that were a little more Christmassy. (Not a word? 😂) So when I came across these decorations on Pinterest I thought they could work well! And of course I wanted to make my own papers to suit the mobile.
When I went hunting around my studio I found I had no metallic paints that were the colour I wanted, and then the local shops were out as well!
Luckily I remembered the Mica colours I had, I used them with resin years ago, so I decided to try them on the Gelli plate. Nothing ventured, nothing gained right?
To my surprise they worked very well! They were easy to apply to the plate and the acrylic paint lifts them off nicely as well. I used the traditional red and green and I used them tonally, but you could go for contrasting colours depending on your project.
So here is how it’s done:
Make sure your Gelli plate is very clean, otherwise the powders won’t stick to it, place your mask or stencil on the clean plate and press down firmly to make good contact using your hands or a brayer
Wear a dust mask for the next step!
Apply the powder to the plate with a very soft brush, I used an old makeup brush, take care not to brush it into the air too much, it stays airborne for a lot longer than you’d imagine!
Remove the stencil and roll a good layer of acrylic paint on top, you want a nice, solid cover.
Place the paper on top and print with a bit of pressure to ensure good adhesion of the powder to the paint, I like to use a barren or something similar so I can give it good pressure.
You’ll see the contrast between the shimmer of the mica and the flatness of the paint. In this case everything came off the plate nicely but it doesn’t matter if a bit is left behind, just as long as you’re happy with the result!
I hope you’ll try this technique yourself, it is very satisfying and then to make your Christmas decorations from them of course!
