New Stencils for Gelatin Printmaking

A new stencil for today’s ICAD gelatin print.  I found these fun copyright free images from Francesco.  I have used the Silhouette/Cameo machine to cut out several so you will see some new figures in my gelatin plate prints in the next few weeks.

Some steps I took to make these

Stencils for Gelatin Printmaking……

• isolate the image and save as a jpg in photoshop
• open the jpg in the silhouette software
• watched several youtube videos on how to use that program
• be patient with my learning curve 🙂
• Trace the outline and create the cutting lines (in the program) easy after I got the hang of it
• Let the machine cut it out
• Carefully remove the cut out from the sticky mat
• Then I did coat it with several layers of mat medium to make it sturdy
• I cut it out of 90 lb drawing paper, but you could cut it out of plastic, mylar, or other material and then not have to coat the stencil.  I do it this way because I like how the ink reacts with the coated paper.

Play with Printmaking!

Then the fun begins –  I pulled out a stack of index cards and started making gelatin prints for the ICAD challenge.

• Pre-inked the figure
• Set it to the side
• Ink the gelatin plate with yellow speedball block printing ink
• ink the bottom of a flip-flop with blue ink then
• stamp on to the the yellow layer of ink
• Place the figure ink side down  on the gel plate
• Place print paper on top
• Burnish
• Sneak a peek
• Peel back the paper BUT still stuck to the gelatin plate
• Remove the stencil
• Roll the paper back down  and
• Burnish again
• Peel it off the plate and ADMIRE!

Happy Printing!