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Gelli Printing with an Oil Pastel Resist

Gelli printing with Oil pastel resists tutorial
Drawing / For Beginners / Monoprints / Popular posts / Printing / Step by step demonstrations

Gelli Printing with an Oil Pastel Resist

I recently got a gelli plate and am in the process of exploring a few techniques I can use with that versatile tool.

Oil pastel resist seemed like a promising one, because it allows some control on the design but also lives some place for chance. I also really like the look of monoprints and the option for happy accidents 🙂

To try this technique, you will need:

  • A gelli plate
  • A brayer or 2
  • Some acrylic paints, at least 2 contrasting colors
  • Oil pastels, at least one color
  • Paper, I used regular drawing paper

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

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Gelli Arts Printing Plate – 9″ x 12″, Rectangle

This plate includes a Mylar sheet with 1″ grid lines to help with composition. It’s perfect for creating bleed prints on A4 and classic letter size papers.

drawing your design with oil pastels
Start by drawing your design with oil pastel, I suggest you start with simple line designs to get familiar with the technique at first.
spreading acrylic on printing plate with brayer
Then you can spread some acrylic on your gelli plate, try to have an homogeneous layer that is not too thin but evenly spread.
spreading acrylic on the gelli plate
The color of this layer will be the color of your line drawing on the final print. The color of the oil pastel you used will not show on the monoprint, only the color of this first layer.
the nex step is applying your paper with the oil pastel drawing on the plate that has just been covered in acrylic paint.
the nex step is applying your paper with the oil pastel drawing on the plate that has just been covered in acrylic paint. Timing is everything here, you don’t want to leave the paper on too long, just a few seconds, applying pressure everywhere on your paper. If you leave the paper for too long, you won’t see the oil pastel drawing.
Gently lift the paper from the gelli plate.
Gently lift the paper from the gelli plate.
You can keep that print as a "negative" version of your final print. The design will have the color of the oil pastel you used to make your resist drawing.
You can keep that print as a “negative” version of your final print. The design will have the color of the oil pastel you used to make your resist drawing.
My original oil pastel drawing in red.
My original oil pastel drawing in red.
You will see your oil pastel resist design in the color of that first acrylic layer.
You will see your oil pastel resist design in the color of that first acrylic layer. The background might show some of the black paint, you can decide to leave some as part of the look or clean up some areas at the stage. Here I cleaned up a bit of paint on the top part of the flower and removed the bigger stain on the left.
Next, apply the background color directly on the plate on top of your design.
Next, apply the background color directly on the plate on top of your design. Here I chose a white background but you can experiment with many options

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

Speedball Hard Rubber Brayers

A hard synthetic rubber roller (80 durometer) makes these brayers ideal for light carving or gluing applications, and excellent for rolling down print surfaces. – Deluxe Brayers

Spread the background color on the gelli plate with a brayer
Spread the background color on the gelli plate with a brayer
Print your monoprint by applying paper on the plate and carefully pressing so the paper is fully in contact with the plate. This time you want to leave the paper for at least 15 minutes so it has time to soak all the paint n the plate.
Print your monoprint by applying paper on the plate and carefully pressing so the paper is fully in contact with the plate. This time you want to leave the paper for at least 15 minutes so it has time to soak all the paint on the plate.
The monoprint
The monoprint

Ideas to explore with Gelli printing Oil pastel resist

Share pictures of your prints in the comments!
Share pictures of your prints in the comments!
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