• Gelatin Plate like Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plates
• Paints or Inks
• Brayer and Palette
• Paper or Fabric
• Found objects and tools for making designs in the paint such as stencils
• Paper cutouts to act as masks

Gelatin monoprinting is one of the fastest, economical, and fun ways to make backgrounds; decorate tags, papers, or fabrics; or add an artistic, handmade touch to ribbons and trims. 

SPEEDBALL-Speedball Pop-In Acrylic Roller Brayer . Brayers are great for printmaking; scrapbooking; paper crafts; home decor; and much more! This 4 inch brayer comes with one acrylic roller that is easy and quick to interchange. Featuring an acrylic roller (clear) for smoothing your glue surface for a bubble free tack; perfect for spreading wax and rubber cement because they will not tick to the acrylic Brayer has a burgundy colored plastic handle. Measurements: Brayer handle with no roller: 4-1/2x4-1/2x1-5/8in; roller: 1 diameter. Craft tips booklet by Dee Gruenig included.

1. Squirt 2-3 colors of paint or ink onto your palette and blend them slightly with your brayer. Analogous colors work well, to start with, but you can also go with complementary colors or add a color that has some metallic in it. Experiment!

2. Roll the paint or ink onto the plate.

3. Using your found objects or tools, lightly press into the paint. In my samples I used half a nutshell and the end of a wooden spool to make impressions and the tines of a plastic fork to make lines. You want to move the object slightly on the surface to displace the paint, but don't cut into the plate.

4. If you want to use a paper shape as a mask, now's the time to place it. If not, go ahead and lay your paper or fabric down on top of the plate and lightly rub over the back with your hands. Lift up the paper or fabric and see what you've got.

5. Before the paint dries, take another piece of paper or fabric and make a ghost print. I find sometimes I like the ghost print better than the original.

6. Repeat the process as often as you like, trying different combinations of found objects, masks, and paint colors.

Some tips:

• Choose quality. Regular craft paints can be used, but they dry out fairly quickly and can flake off onto the gelatin plate. It's better to use fluid acrylics, printing inks, Lumiere® paints, and similar.
• Print onto tissue paper (be sure to use a fairly light amount of ink). Later, you can use the papers for collage with gel medium which makes the paper translucent.
• Double your pleasure. Keep dry prints and other papers or fabrics nearby while you work. After you use a found object to make an impression on the gelatin plate, stamp the excess paint or ink onto the paper or fabric.
• Waste nothing! Even if you don't like the results of a monoprint or the colors, you can always collage or write over it, cut it up for artist trading card backgrounds, stamp onto it, or use it as journal backgrounds.