Experiments in Gelatin Printmaking

So here are some of the prints I made in the gelatin printmaking class I took with Tamar Etingen at Lynn Arts a couple of weekends ago. This was my first printmaking class ever (aside from a week or so of linoleum block printing in high school). There are some things I like about the prints and some I don't. More that I don't. But making mistakes is mostly how you learn to do new things, right?



Overall, I like the colors. I don't hate the designs (although they are somewhat sloppy--that has to do with registering and I had enough to learn in half a day without trying to get that right).

What I don't like is the ham-handedness of them. They're not exactly subtle. I was laying the paint too thick on the plate, which means the layers aren't as transparent as they could be. And as a result I didn't get the depth or detail and luminosity that's possible with this medium.

Also, I think I made some mistakes in choosing materials. The little key in the lower right-hand corner of the second print above, for example, came out blobby and you couldn't read the lettering on it very well. And that was either because the key was too thick or because my paint was too thick. Or probably it was a combination of both. (The second time I tried the key stuck in the paint on the print, so I just left it there.)

In the print below, I was starting to get the hang of layering and inking and it's the one I like best:



The base pattern is made with gauze. It's a "ghost" image, which means you ink your plate, then put down the gauze and press it with a piece of paper, and then take the gauze off the plate. That leaves the ghost image in the ink. Then you press your paper down and that makes the impression.

Anyway, there may be more to come. then again I might get bored and move on to something new. Although I'm kind of stoked to play with the "Hello Kitty" stencil I found at a yard sale this weekend ...