For this project we’ll work with an easy-to-use polyester alternative to the traditional stone lithographic printing plate. This is a low-tech adaptation of lithographic printmaking that makes fine art printing doable for anyone. With polyester lithographic print plate, some pens and the ever-fun Gelli plate, you can take printmaking surface design in a whole new mixed-media direction! Try printing more than one plate onto a background or only partially inking up a plate for a more distressed look that resembles image transfers. The possibilities are endless.
10" × 8" (25cm × 20cm) Tiepolo paper
Southern Ocean Blue, Transparent Umber, Transparent Venetian Red, Transparent Yellow Oxide or brands and colors of your choice
1-inch (25mm) flat
baby wipes, baren or plastic/wooden spoon, black graphic chemical lithography ink, citric acid powder (might be necessary), dish soap, dry wax deli paper, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pens, Gelli plate, gesso, gum arabic (might be necessary), hot plate (or iron or oven), lightbox, Mixed Media Adhesive, neutral collage materials, newsprint paper, open medium, palette, paper towels, Plexiglas or acetate sheet, polyester lithographic print plate, rubber gloves, Simple Green cleaner/SoHo studio wipes, soft and hard rubber brayers, spatula, sponge, spray bottle, stencils, water bowl
Collage thin papers onto a sturdier Tiepolo paper substrate, using a 1-inch (25mm) flat and Mixed Media Adhesive. Apply the adhesive to the back of the collage papers, to the substrate and then over the top of the applied papers. Use neutral collage papers, and don’t cover the substrate completely. Use the brush to work out all the air bubbles. If you used an adhesive other than Mixed Media Adhesive, apply a coat of clear gesso to the entire surface. Let dry.
Lay a stencil over part of the collaged background, and use a sponge dauber and gesso to stencil the design. Let dry. This will create a resist effect to the paints used later.
Prepare a stack of dry wax deli paper to print from, a palette for your paint, a soft rubber brayer and some open acrylic paint or acrylic paint mixed with a small amount (10:1 ratio) of open medium. The open acrylics or open medium will give you more working time with the paint. I used Transparent Venetian Red for this step, but you can use any color of your choice. Use a soft rubber brayer to apply the paint mixture to the Gelli plate.
Gelli Arts® Gel Printing Plate is durable, stores at room temperature and is easy to clean. Monoprinting on gelatin plates creates a unique result popular with many printmakers. While gelatin plates ultimately deteriorate, Gelli plates are reusable. They look, feel and react like a gelatin plate, but are made of a unique plastic that contains mineral oil. Acrylic paint, water-soluble inks and fabric paints work best to create interesting one-of-a-kind monoprints—no printing press required!
When I’m printmaking, I print more sheets than I’ll need so I have a constant stash of papers to pull from. Pull as many prints as you like, but you will want at least three to work with for this project. Lay coordinating stencils on the Gelli plate, and pull a print using dry wax deli paper. Press the paper with your hands to help transfer the print. Set the print aside to dry.
Clean the brayer by rolling it on a paper towel. Add Transparent Yellow Oxide or another color of your choice mixed with open medium to the brayer and roll over the stencil-covered Gelli plate. Remove one or more of the stencils, and pull another print on deli paper. Remove all of the stencils, and place another piece of deli paper on the plate to pull a final print. Let all of the prints dry.
Polyester lithographic print plates are heat-resistant and semitransparent. The polyester surface mimics the surface of a lithographic stone or plate. There are several brands on the market, and they are inexpensive, fast and flexible. They require very little processing and work well for monoprinting or small-edition print runs.
Mix a thin wash of Transparent Yellow Oxide, and apply the paint to the entire background of the collaged substrate with a 1-inch (25mm) flat. Let dry for a couple of minutes, then run a baby wipe over the gessoed area to reveal the gesso.
Note: The different types of paper used for the collage may each take the paint differently. This is part of what makes this process so interesting and why you want to leave some of the background bare.
Collage the dry printed papers onto the background. Apply the papers with a 1-inch (25mm) flat and Mixed Media Adhesive. Apply the adhesive to the back of the papers, to the substrate and then over the applied papers. You can flip over some of the collaged papers to create lighter and darker areas. Apply a plain piece of unprinted dry wax deli paper roughly the size of the face image you’re going to print in the desired location. This will allow the underlying layers to show through without overwhelming the printed image.
Sandwich the design between a lightbox and an polyester lithographic print plate, making sure the rough side of the plate is facing up. You should be able to see the design through the plate. Use assorted Pitt Artist pens to trace the design onto the plate, reserving at least a 1-inch (25mm) border around the design.
When tracing the face onto the polyester lithographic print plate, you can add some of the stencil design elements from the stencils you used in the background. I added some hair that was actually part of the stencil pattern and also for the top of her clothes. This helps tie the printed image to the background.
Heat-set the plate in an oven, with an iron or on a hot plate at 225–250º F (107–121º C) for 10 minutes. When the print plate has cooled, wash it with a sponge and a tiny drop of dish soap to remove any oils or dirt transferred from your hands.
Prepare a small stack of newsprint paper cut to the same size as the print plate. For an inking plate, you can use a piece of Plexiglas or an acetate sheet taped to your work surface. Wearing rubber gloves, put a small amount of litho ink on your inking plate. Work it with a spatula for a few minutes. Use the hard rubber brayer to roll out the ink, using crisscross strokes. You’ll hear a smooth hissing sound when your brayer is fully charged with ink.
Spritz the worktable and lay the polyester lithographic print plate on the wet surface to help hold it in place. Now dip a sponge in wiping water (see sidebar on how to mix this solution), squeeze and pass lightly over the plate a few times. The pores of the plate surface that aren’t closed with pen ink now fill with water that will repel the ink from the brayer.
Fill a plastic bowl (cereal bowl sized) with water and add 1 oz. (30ml) of gum arabic solution and half a teaspoon (2.5ml) of citric acid powder. You can find gum arabic in art stores and citric acid powder in the canning section of the grocery store.
You can try using distilled water, but if you get scumming (smudges of ink on the plate), you’ll need to use the wiping water mixture.
Run the ink-charged brayer over the print plate with a light hand. Wet the plate again as in Step 11 and run the brayer over the plate again. Repeat these two steps several times to completely ink the plate. The initial inking may take four to ten water/ink cycles. Subsequent inkings will take fewer cycles.
Note: If ink gets on the white areas of the print plate (this is called “scumming”), use the wet sponge to rub it off.
Prepare the background substrate with a light spritz of water. (You want the paper damp, softened up just a bit, but not wet.) Lay a piece of the newsprint on top of the inked plate and burnish with a plastic rubbing spoon, wooden spoon or baren. Try making a test print with each type of burnishing tool to see which works best for you. Reink the plate between each test print.
That’s OK! Take a deep breath. This isn’t fine art, and you don’t need a perfect print. Embrace the imperfection and work with it. There are several things you can do to make a messed-up print work. You can draw any important missing details with a black pen or let a partial image that has an old, timeworn look fade into the background. If all else fails, you can add a bit more collage over the printed area and have another go at it.
When you begin getting good test prints, it’s time to print your final images onto the background substrate. It may take a few days for the ink to fully dry, so lay the prints where they won’t be disturbed.
To further enhance the background and tie it into the print, use the black Pitt Artist pen to retrace some of the stencil lines on the background around the printed image. Add a little more acrylic paint around the outside edge of the traced design to make the image pop
Clean the brayer and Plexiglas or acetate sheet with SoHo studio wipes or Simple Green nontoxic cleaners. Just run the brayer over the wipes.
Clean the polyester lithographic print plate by first printing over and over onto newsprint until the ink is mostly gone. Then clean thoroughly with liquid dish soap. Don’t use chemical cleaners on the print plate.
Store your print plates flat in a drawer. They will last a long time if properly cleaned and stored.