Blogtober - post 7. My home made gelli plates .....

Although I already have 2 gelli plates, when I saw a recipe demo'd by Jennifer Petz on her YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ZyvDSmI30) and I had the ingredients to hand, I had to try it out.

I'm not sure that I had the right sort of alcohol; the recipe is for American ingredients and states 95% alcohol - I had surgical spirit so used that. I guess a high proof Vodka might have worked too ...... but why waste Vodka trying?! I made one tiny plate and one a about 3" x 6". I used the tiny one first; it worked fine for the first few prints pulled but gradually started to break up on the top (this is when I thought my alcohol might not be right as all other ingredients were as the recipe). It did leave some interesting patterns, so not a total waste. The larger plate seemed sturdier and I used that several times without it breaking up at all. I did find pulling the last of the paint off of the plate wasn't quite so easy as with a purchased plate but I cleaned up with a baby wipe and the paint came straight off.

The one thing I would say is to have some ventilation in your room; those plates totally stink! It wasn't helped by the fact I was also using an onion to print with today so the mixed vapours around me were very pungent!

This is the larger plate - the frilly edges are from the pot I used to make it in, they didn't affect the use at all:

This is the little plate - not quite big enough for the prints to be used for an ATC - I should have thought that out better! But it can be melted back down and made in a different container next time. You can see how the top is breaking down slightly.

This print was done on the smaller plate:

Here I was pulling the remains of the paint off of the larger plate; there was a bit of paint left on the plate after this pull but I just wiped it clean with a baby wipe, let in dry and popped it back in the pot it was made in. 

So, will I continue to make these - possibly not but it was fun to try and I will keep these on the go, melting down and re-setting when necessary. If you haven't got a gelli plate then this is a very easy and quick way to get one and if you can get the correct ingredients I would imagine it would hold up better than mine!