Gel Press Monoprinting Print Plate - 12” X 12” (30.5 X 30.5 cm) Gel Plate - Printmaking Supplies - Reusable Gel Printing Plates for Press Art for Card Making, Scrapbooking, Journaling, Arts & Crafts

Just before Christmas an artist friend told me about gel plate printing or 'gelli printing.' Despite subscribing to loads of artists on social media and watching tonnes of art videos, reviews loads of art products etc. this was something that I had never heard of and was completely unaware of. Having seen some of my friends multi-media artwork around their house produced with one and hearing them be so enthusiastic I added it to my Christmas list.I did enough research to know that there were two main makes, Gel Press (this make) and Gelli Arts and I have to admit that my choice was informed largely by price of them and availability for the size I wanted. I decided that a 6"x6" plate would be good as it wasn't too expensive and wouldn't take up too much space, but was big enough to create decent prints with. I didn't want to get one that was close to A4 size as they were quite a bit more expensive - just in case I didn't take to it. My rationale being that I could always get another, larger one later on if I took to it.I bought a soft brayer (roller) at the same time and already had a number of various acrylic paints, cheap copy paper and some cartridge paper in the house ready to use. Having watched lots of Youtube videos beforehand I leapt straight in with an image transfer (from a thermal printer print) and having transferred it to the plate (with black acrylic paint) proceeded to underpaint this imprint directly onto the gel plate and then covered it all with white acrylic and pulled a print from that (the pub one). Buoyed by this initial success I then went on to produce (with my son) a series of less successful prints that were nonetheless interesting enough to draw me in.I made loads of mistakes (and no doubt still will) and using one of these is very much a process of experimentation and accepting failure to in the end get results. That's why using cheap copy paper and whatever acrylic paints you have around is a good idea while you learn. Initially I was putting the plate back in its case (good idea) between the two acetate sheets it comes with (not advised by the manufacturer). I have cleaned the plate with baby wipes, hand sanitiser and also warm water and washing up liquid. Lots of people though just leave it to get a bit dirty as it adds to the somewhat random and characterful nature of the prints.Paper-wise, copy paper is fine for trying out but the cartridge paper prints worked better. I will try watercolour paper next. Apparently tissue paper, rice paper, card stock and Bristol board can all be good. The general rule as I understand it is smooth paper works best but avoid glossy photo paper as it will ruin your plate. You can also print to fabric e.g. for home made t-shirts but you will need to buy a fabric medium to enable it to adhere and be washable afterwards.In terms of paints mine were a mixture of inherited Windsor and Newton Galleria, Crawford & Black, Daler Rowney, Liquitex and also small tubes of Kolor colour acrylic paint. They all worked but I would say that the Windsor and Newton was smoothest and so easiest to under paint onto a transferred image. The gold Liquitex paint looked great, but was not smooth going on and therefore a bit difficult paint onto the plate with. I may well look to get some more metallic paints though.One thing that I learnt was that while the thermal print worked well (at least the first one did), ink jet prints do not work well if at all. You ideally need laser prints, which is a shame for me as I don't have a laser printer. Using magazines (the sort of junk mail and advertising ones you get through the door) was a bit hit and miss and apparently glossy, fashion type mags work best for image transfer.Using items to create texture is good fun and pretty much anything can be used, but avoid using sharp objects that will pierce the surface of the gel plate. I used some string, nylon twine and bubble wrap (the latter works really well) and have started collecting objects to use for texture as well as bits of plastic, card and other materials to make my own stencils with. Some people buy stencils and rubber stamps etc. for a more ready made craft-like approach, which is fine, but I prefer the sort of abstract, chaotic prints I have seen some people use.It can be frustrating when you spend a long time and either get no image (for image transfer) or ripped paper and a mess, but it's a learning process through experimentation. Using the right amount of paint and knowing when to let it dry (building up layers) and when to act quickly before it dries (taking your print), and how long to leave the paper on (lots of different answers apparently) are all things that you will learn as you go along. There are loads of instructional and inspirational videos online to assist.It is also less messy than you might image. I had the gel plate on some copy paper on top of an art cutting board, some more copy paper to use for excess paint, my paints, some brushes (for underpainting) and a water jar to clean them in and some kitchen roll. It sounds a lot but as my plate is quite small it didn't take up all that much room nor did I make much of a mess. Acrylic paint is water-based anyway and so will wash off. I should imagine that compared to 'proper' printing it is a loss less expensive, less space consuming and less messy so don't be afraid of that.I still have a lot to learn and more videos to watch and prints to experiment with, but the point is I am already having lots of fun with it as is my son. Yes you do have to be prepared to learn through failure, but that's pretty much true of anything and certainly any art process. Even the mistakes are okay as they can be used for other prints or in a collage. You also need a degree of patience to wait for paint to dry and to be organised enough to have things ready for when you need to pull a print quickly.Overall I am really pleased with this and very glad to have had gel printing recommended to me. My only regret is that I wasn't able to talk about this process and product with my late father-in-law (who I inherited the paints from), as he was a very skilled artist who specialised in relief printing using a printing press, and I think he would have been interested in this as well as able to give me tips.I am very happy to recommend this and I expect that I will buy a larger one in due course when I have built up some more skills.

Really impressed, after looking into gel printing I immediately ordered a gel plate direct from China and bought stone cheap acrylic paint, it was a disaster. With the word 'a bad workman always blames his tools' ringing in my eyes, I bit the bullet and purchased the gelli plate. With some expensive acrylic paint this no works perfectly and I'm keen to do much more gel printing.

Lovely gel press

Still finding lots of ways of using these mini gelli plates they work well used as stamps too, would have been even better if they were a bit bigger especially the round one!

Good size and good value. The plat being large is floppy, so may be awkward moving around or flipping over .. I keep the perspective liner on when using, I like this product.

Amazing product

Excellent quality, useful as a paint palette as well as a Geli plate. Have bought before.

I have used the same brand for many years and will keep on buying diffent sizes. Love the product.