Rijacki's Workshop: Gel Press with Alcohol Ink

I have become addicted to the Gel Press. The gel plate can do amazing things. I wanted to have a unique background so turned to the Gel Press and alcohol inks to create some.

To protect the rest of my desk (and hide the craftolanch mess there) I use a sheet of parchment paper on the surface and a sheet of cardboard that came from packaging as a backdrop screen. For this project I used an 8" x 10" Gel Press. I prepped several panels of Legion Yupo, Strathmore Mixed Media paper, and Strathmore Marker paper. Each of the panels was 5" x 7" because I intended to print on at least one and that's one of the sizes my printer can handle.

I used a silicone paste applicator to loosely spread hand sanitizer over the gel plate then dribbled on alcohol ink: Pool, Cloudy Blue, and Celestial Pearl.

The first surface I used was Yupo. The hand sanitizer and ink sits on the surface and doesn't sink in.

I used Yupo again and smushes the paper around a bit.

I added Envy Pearl and Sublime Pearl as well as a bit moe Cloudy Blue. My intended backround was an abstract leafy-sky for behind owls in a tree. When I put the greens on, I didn't notice that some of the areas no longer had hand sanitizer.

I pulled a print with Yupo.

I added a bit more Cloudy Sky.

I then used a sheet of Mixed Media paper. If you look in the bottom right corner, you'll see my note for the paper type. Unlike the Yupo, this paper definitely soaks in the ink.

The pulled print on the Mixed Media paper also shows how the ink soaks in.

I wanted to pick up the rest of the ink on the plate, so I added a thin coat of a shimmery acrylic paint with a brayer.

I pulled the print and you can see fain bits of the ink as well as the shimmery green.

I then cleaned off the plate with hand sanitizer and discovered the greens had stained the plate with a yellow-green. This might be because it was directly on the plate without hand sanitizer. Oh well. It still works, it just doesn't look totally clean when starting.

I used the silicone applicator again to add more hand sanitizer.

This time I left off the Pearls and added Citris instead to the Pool and Cloudy Sky.

I used a brayer on Yupo to smush it into the plate.

The first pull with Yupo.

I brayered a sheet of Marker paper. The ink does soak into the paper, but, because it's treated for use with alcohol Markers, it doesn't sink in completely.

And pulled the print. I really like how this turned out. This is the one I used for my background.

I tried one more print with Mixed Media paper. You can see how the ink soaks deeply into the paper.

I let everything dry for a while. The hand sanitizer makes the drying take longer than just alcohol ink directly on the papers. The Yupo sheets took the longest to dry. In the following pictures, the ink was fully dry on the Marker and Mixed Media papers but still a little wet on the Yupo.