Serendipity, November 2025

Lately, I have been trying to broaden my skills by using the Gelli plate for printing on fabric.  My research included reading a great ‘How To’ book, watching YouTube Videos and talking to friends who have more experience working with the Gelli plate than I do.  It turns out you can use a vast assortment of materials when doing prints.  Creating using an assortment of materials like acrylic paints, acrylic mediums, alcohol ink markers, printing inks, and Inktense Sticks, combined with creating textures using anything you can press onto the wet paint on the plate, is exciting.  You can also transfer images from photos to the plate.  The surface of the Gelli plate has oil in it, so it tends to make watercolours and thin water-based paints bubble.  Experience has taught me that this is true.

  Whatever you put on the plate first will be on the surface of your pulled print.  I tried printing one of the blocks I cut for printing on fabric and discovered that the print is a literal transfer and not reversed, so all my carefully cut-out letters appeared in reverse in the final print.  Making sure the layers are dry is key if you don’t want to disturb the layer below.  Not all paints will stick to fabric as evenly as you might like them to, and leave paint residue on the plate. 

  Continuing without cleaning the plate can help you achieve some very interesting effects.  The piece attached to this blog is one of those pieces.  Gold acrylic paint was used on the previous print as the final layer.  When the print was pulled, some of the rust colour and gold did not transfer and stayed on the plate.  If I want all the gold to transfer next time, I will not make it the final layer. Not sure that will work, but I will give it a try.   What was left on the plate looked like it might enhance the photo transfer that I was doing next. 

  The black and white laser print of a cathedral in Italy was the perfect image to transfer on top of the remnants of gold and rust.  As you can see from the edges of the print, a blue acrylic paint was the final layer before fabric was applied.  When the paint was dry and the fabric was pulled off the plate, the blue came through very subtly in the print.  The cloud effect in the circular window was totally accidental.

  What looked like a disaster was actually serendipity.

  You know the old expression, ‘when life serves you lemons, make lemonade’.  My life has been leaning in that direction lately.  Rather than let the negativity deflate me and take away my joy, I am using the experience to help me find my happy place.  What initially looks like a disaster can actually lead to a series of events that can be beneficial.  Personal growth and the ability to find the good in everyday life are enhanced.  The residue of a bad experience can make future positive experiences all the more joyful.  The next time something negative comes your way, try to find the recipe for making life delectable.