I bought an 8”x10” Gelli plate to play around with. You know how it goes… one day I spotted a video on making monotypes on a Gelli plate, and the next day I’m researching small printing presses! Luckily, common sense, limited space, and a total lack of the understanding of print making brought me right back to buying an inexpensive Gelli plate.

Monotypes are weird because you have to ask yourself, why am I not painting this on a piece of paper? A monotype is a one-shot deal. You can get ghost (second) prints but they’re only that, a ghostly image. I purchased this specifically to be able to create a moody and somewhat unpredictable background that I’d draw or paint over. Honestly, so far that hasn’t really happened. I think it will take a lot of practice to achieve what’s in my imagination.

So far, I’ve practiced with block printing ink and an old brayer, with Neocolors and drops of ink. I’ve had some fun with stencils and filling in the open areas with crosshatching, which is very freeing and gets me to loosen up and embrace stylizing.