Gel Printing with Leaves

We tried gel printing for the first time this month, using leaves we had gathered on a walk.

I had never used a gel plate before and wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it was surprisingly simple and very satisfying. We experimented as we went, trying different ways of making prints and seeing what happened each time.

You will need

A gel printing plate
A roller
Water-soluble block printing inks
Paper
Leaves in different shapes and sizes
Scrap paper

Method

Start by rolling a thin, even layer of printing ink over your gel plate.

Place a leaf onto the ink, then lay a sheet of paper over the whole plate. Press firmly with your hands, making sure you press around the shape and edges of the leaf.

Carefully lift the paper away to reveal your first print.

For our second method, we started in exactly the same way, but used the first sheet of paper to remove some of the excess ink.

After lifting the paper away, carefully peel the leaf from the gel plate.

Place a fresh sheet of paper over the plate and press firmly again.

When you lift it away, you will get a completely different print, picking up all the lovely detail left behind by the leaf.

We also experimented with two colours of ink. There really are so many ways to play with a gel plate, and part of the fun is not knowing exactly how each print will turn out.

If you are trying it for the first time, I would keep the colours quite restricted. One or two colours makes it simple and lets the shapes and details of the leaves really show.

I would also recommend water-soluble printing inks, particularly when working with children, as everything is much easier to clean afterwards.

This was my first time gel printing and I definitely want to experiment with it more. It was easy to set up, great fun to do together, and every print came out slightly differently.