Printing Plates made with Stencils

Some time ago, an artist friend and I made printing plates with scraps of sturdy matboard, molding paste and stencils, following these steps....

One at a time, I placed a stencil on the sturdy matboard (ultra-sturdy cardboard would work too) and taped the two together with masking tape.

Next, with an artist's spatula, I spread heavy modeling paste thru the openings of the stencil.  I lifted off the stencil immediately after using it, and placed it in a basin of water, for quick and easy clean-up later.  (When using 3-dimensional media like modeling paste, it's important to clean stencils, to keep all open areas in original condition.) 

After the modeling paste was dry -- this can take a full day, depending on climate and the thickness of the layer of medium -- I covered the entire matboard, including the raised design, with gloss liquid medium.  This was a two-step process because the edges and the back needed to be covered as well, after the top side had time to dry thoroughly.  The goal is to seal the matboard and its raised surface to make a sturdy tool able to tolerate repeated use with acrylic paints and other wet media.

What I did with each of these new printing plates was to brayer a layer of acrylic paint over the Gelli Plate, then to press the printing plate -- with its 3-dimensional pattern down -- onto the acrylic paint.  

After I'd lifted the printing plate, an impression remained in the still-wet acrylic paint covering the Gelli Plate.  

I then placed paper onto the plate and burnished its entire back surface with my hands, before pulling the print.  Prints made this way have been incorporated into my collages.

Below is one of the papers printed this way:

Above:  Paper printed with my printing plate made with 9"X 12" stencil Mimosa

What surprised me was that, after printing papers with these plates, I decided that the plates themselves may eventually get cut up to make collage elements.

This is what 3 of those printing plates look like:  

The printing plate above was made with my 9"X 12" stencil Mimosa.

Above is the printing plate made with my 6"X 6" stencil Trivet B.



Above is my favorite printing plate of the three, made with my stencil 6"X 6" Mimosa. 

Although I call them printing plates, they work equally well as rubbing plates.  Rubbing plates can be used with thin but sturdy papers; however, the more popular use for them lies in the arena of the fabric arts:  A piece of fabric is placed over the plate; then the surface of the fabric is rubbed with a Shiva stick (an oil-based product that resembles a jumbo-sized crayon.)  The result is called a dry rubbing.  

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