Butterfly in the Garden Print over Gelli Print Circle
Recently I have been working on a series of hanging gelli print “scrolls.” I started the series while visiting my husband who was working in Chicago for a month last year. While there, I was itching to paint and ended up impulse buying a big round gelli plate, acrylic paints, and a roll of paper.
Gelli Plates are an extremely fun and versatile form of monoprinting. You simply apply some acrylic paint to the plate and then away you go! I was introduced to them by my good friend at Turning the Wheel, and I have incorporated them into workshops and other artistic projects.
Our Gel Printing Plate looks and feels like gelatin, but is durable, reusable and stores at room temperature. It’s easy to clean and always ready for printing. Monoprinting on a Gelli plate is simple and fun. The gratification is immediate, and the prints are too cool! -From the Gelli Arts Website
My original plan was to cut the circles out of the paper and collage them into later projects. However, once I had completed a few rounds of the prints I decided I really liked how the gradient of prints looked and began plotting how to keep them intact.
Unfurling the Scrolls after Storage.
After a bunch of trial and error I figured out how to glue a dowel to the top and bottom of the series. I also continued printing and working on the circles so they felt less rough. I splurged a second time on a set of new stamps featuring children playing and butterflies in a garden. Using the same acrylic printing techniques I incorporated the stamps into the prints. I love how each scroll tells a story from top to bottom, or bottom to top, depending on where the eye wanders first.
The scrolls will be on display in the near future at a Boulder Venue. Visit my website for a list of upcoming events: www.khirilee.com
