How to: Gel Printmaking

A spatula helps spread the gel medium to make a print.

Gel printmaking is the process of transferring a print to a gel medium. This gel print can then be displayed as-is or transferred to another medium to make an art project. These gel prints are relatively easy to make, though there is a lot of drying time involved. This means that with a little patience, anyone can make-do gel printmaking for art projects or just to decorate a room. All of the necessary items can be bought at an art or craft store.

Things You'll Need

• Picture or print on paper
• Gloss acrylic gel medium
• Scissors
• Roller
• Spatula
• Hair dryer
• Sponge
• Tray

Instructions

1. Print out a copy of the photo or print you wish to make into a gel print. The best way to do this is to print it out on paper that is both high quality and thin. Since the print will look a little faded on the gel, if the photo is already light, you may want to adjust your printer's settings to make the photo come out darker.

2. Trim the print using scissors. Trim it down to the desired size and make sure all white borders are gone as well.

3. Spread a coat of the gel medium over the print using a spatula. Make sure the coat is thin and even across the entire picture and that you spread it all in the same direction.

4. Dry the print using a blow dryer. You will know it is dry because the gel will become completely clear.

5. Spread another thin, uniform layer of gel medium over the picture, going in the opposite direction this time. Dry with the blow dryer once again.

6. Spread a third layer of gel medium over the picture. Let it sit over night to make sure all the layers are completely dry.

7. Soak the dried gel print in warm water using the tray. It should soak for 1 to 2 hours.

8. Apply pressure, gently using either your fingers or a clean, damp sponge. This will help the paper peel away. Once all the paper is peeled away -- this is a slow, painstaking process -- the result is a gel print. It can be used as-is for a display or transferred to another medium for a separate project.

Tips & Warnings

• A spatula made of silicon works well with this project because the gel medium will not stick to the silicone, making it easier to spread across the print.

• Make sure the gel is completely dry before soaking. if not, it could ruin the print once you begin soaking.

• The picture will appear on the print inverted, like looking in a mirror. If you wish the print to come out exactly as it looks on paper, use your printer to invert the picture first. This will make it look backwards on the paper, but will come out looking normal once the finished gel print is made.

References

• Berkley University; Gel Transfer; Steven Berkowitz
• Calsk8: Gel/Acrylic Medium Prints; Paul Fujita