I have always been drawn to image transfers. There’s just something about that worn, slightly gritty image that makes my heart go pitter-patter. But after discovering this technique on gelatin printing image transfers, I am a woman obsessed!
Resist Printing with Magazines How To
So what is it I’m obsessed with? It’s this super cool technique where magazine pages resist the ink on the gelatin plate. It creates a “transfer” that is not backwards! Birgit Koopsen shared this technique video on the Gelli Arts blog:
My Image Transfer/Resist Printing Experience
I immediately knew that I had to give it a go! I had mediocre success with a National Geographic Magazine and an ancient Life Magazine. So, I went out and bought a copy of Vogue. Things got much better! Here are a few of the prints, with indications of where the images came from:
There’s a bit of dry time involved with this image transfer process and patience is not my strong suit. In order to keep things moving, at one point, I had two gelatin plates going at the same time:
I didn’t include any of the serious failures — which just look like plain painted surfaces or kind of grainy black and color painted surfaces, but trust me, I have a stack of them! I am still working on figuring out how much paint, which paint, how much pressure, etc. But, I can’t stop playing with this idea. I even had to **gasp** clean my gelatin plate so that I had a blank work surface to begin with. I’m still a little resentful about that, but I’ll get over it. 😉
Useful Links:
- A Year of Gelatin Printing & Book Binding: Everything you need to know about gelatin printing plus thirteen bookbinding projects to use your prints!
- All of my FREE Gelatin Printing videos on You Tube are HERE.
- My favorite art supplies for printmakers are HERE.
- All About Image Transfers blog post.
Thanks for stopping by!
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P.S. I think this crayon rubbing technique is actually based on a similar technique conceit:
I haven’t been watching Gelli plate videos lately, but obviously I need to make time to do so. Those are two fantastic Technics that I need to try!
I really like the crayon resist methods. I’m thinking about experimenting with fabric.
Guess what I did yesterday? Cleaned all my Gelli plates – no easy task. Love the technique and plan to do more today. I look forward to seeing more of what you do. Love that the transfer is not backwards.
Love this process – this is all I plan to do today!
absolutely so much fun. i used the W magazine. it was quick and easy.
ohhhh! looks like fun
I can see another addiction coming soon to a table near you! lol Those magazine ones are very very cool!
You are the most generous artist to share your found new techniques with such enthusiasm and beautiful examples! You are a purveyor of joy! Can’t wait to try this … and since I am a charter member of CPC (Clean Plate Club) I am ready to start.
I love this technique, and can’t wait to try it out!
Two fun easy to follow videos. Could you explain the difference between copy paper and drawing paper? Also now what do I do with these many more backgrounds! Thanks for always sharing.
I wonder if images printed on a laser printer would work similarly? You potentially could print black and white photos and use them for this technique. (I don’t currently have a gelli plate, but am sure I won’t resist its siren call forever.)
Saw the Gelli vid, and am anxious to try it! The crayon resist looks amazing, too!
Wow these would all look great on tee shirts!
This is awesome!
OMG….THIS is the coolest technique I have seen in ages!!!!!!!! It is so amazing.
So so cool! I have been experimenting but alas have not yet found the magic combination of how much paint, how much pressure, best images, and so on, so mine are all adding to my stack of painty papers. But I will keep trying!
Hola, si es muy divertido esto que haces porque tiene la posibilidad de poner todo lo que tu quieras, pero tengo una pregunta. ¿La placa de gelatina la haces tú o la compras.
The transfer technique looks like fun, and I’ll probably try it …. but I wonder about potential copyright issues…….
what a great technique! i love that it’s not reversed!
I made some too! I’ve now ordered 2 smaller plates to go along with my 8×10. I think the technique will be great for making tags and smaller embellishments. I’d share some photos of what I made but I guess you can’t add them to these comments?
You can post a photo elsewhere on the internet and link it in the comments. 🙂
o wow Julie I am so glad that I am not alone in the fact that while watching I was thinking my plate is way too dirty for this technique in particular lol lol cleaning my gelli plate is not something we are fond of around here but I was also running to clean it so I can give this a try. I dont know how well this will go as I have never cleaned my gelli plate I dont know if it will ever get sparkling clean like the one in the video in fact I can promise it never will. even with a bath its just not gonna happen for mine hopefully I will still have luck with the magazine technique otherwise I may have to make a new homemade gelli plate that is also not something that can promise a good result but I have had ones that were lovely to work on I think they actually may be perfect for this magazine business ill get to finding out about that now!
Aaamazing! Now, how am I supposed to sleep tonight, with this new possibility in my head? I’m sure I’ll dream of printmaking… ;->
What spesific type of acrylic paint did you USE for the picture transfer? For the print and the pulling
hi, i´ve been trying this technique, but it was impossible, because the page (from magazines) did not remained on the gelly plate. I used different brands of acrylics but it was impossible! what is the secret?
So much to learn. I love Gelli printing. Thank you for the new information.