Gelatin Printing: Using preserved botanicals

Well, I finally got around to using those preserved botanicals – the ferns – the other day with my Gelli Arts Gel printing plate. And the jury is in – the ferns worked perfect, and I was able to put them back in the box for another session later.

However, I did find that the ferns with big leaves covered up a lot of the fabric and I didn’t get a good print.

So I tried another fern and was much happier. The top piece is the first print. Below that is the next print with the fern removed.

However, I was way too heavy on the paint, something I talk about avoiding in my video. The less paint the better.

So I was happy with the next two.

Then I grabbed some paper and made a couple prints.

I absolutely love the second set of prints on fabric. I’ll be mounting them soon.

As for the preserved botanicals, they worked fine. They ended with some paint on them, but besides that they will work for another session. I need to get out and preserve some more before they are gone for the season.

When I was playing, I also printed some pieces with my homemade permanent gelatin plate. I make it in December and it’s still going strong. I’ll be posting a comparison of the homemade and the Gelli Arts Gel plate soon. If you’re new here, check out my other posts on gelatin printing.