Doodlebug Dabblings: nature gelatin prints

While on our hike the first day of the 'Drawing from Nature' art camp, I had each child collect a bag of found objects that would be utilized during the rest of the week.

One of those projects would be for printmaking.

I made each student a gelatin plate from a recipe I got on Linda Germain's website. Basically I made one large gelatin plate on a cookie sheet and then cut it into eight pieces so each child had one.

These plates should last me about six months if I take care of them properly, which means lots of fun projects ahead!

Starting with a light color, I asked them to roll it on the plate. We used water based Speedball block inks for this project. Each child then took a small leaf or leaves and put them on the plate after rolling on the color.

11 year old, study of positive and negative image with fern leaf

Then they rubbed a piece of Bristol paper over the top and pulled a print of the negative image of the plant.

Then they lifted the leaf/leaves off the plate and put another piece of paper on the plate and rubbed again. This time creating a positive image of the leaf/leaves.

10 year old

Then I had them pick a another color ink slightly darker than the first one plus something from their found objects slightly bigger than the first leaves to repeat the whole process again using the same two papers we had just used to print the first images

10 year old

I asked them to pick up the print with the positive image to use for the first of the second two prints.

Wait. What?! Which is the positive image?!

Did I mention what a great project this is for teaching positive and negative image?

I explained the positive image was the one where you could see the image of the plant, not just the shape.

I wanted to make sure the second leaf took up more space on the gelatin plate than the first image so that some of the first image showed through the negative space.

6 year old

We then took the paper with the negative image and pulled the positive image off the plate, so now they had two prints layering on each paper. Each paper containing one negative image and one positive image.

Back to the collection bag to pick a large leaf. I suggested this was a great time to pull something like a fern leaf that takes up LOTS of space, but there were lots of other choices made too.

Now I asked them to pick their darkest color to roll over their plates and place down the large leaf.

9 year old

I also told them they could use whichever of the two papers they wanted at this point for the first pull but to remember it would be the negative image.

6 year old

They got some great imagery. It really didn't matter if they stayed on register, although I had cut the paper not much bigger than the plates in order to make it easier for them to match up the various prints.

At the end, I suggested they each take the leaf that created their favorite image on paper and take a single print, both positive and negative, to keep. By this point, a couple of kids were ready for snack and did not do this but most wanted a single print of their favorite image.

8 year old

9 year old

It's easy to clean the plates up, just take some copy paper and blot it over the plates until no ink pulls up, put them back on the dollar store cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place back into the refrigerator for next time.

For me, it's hard to choose a favorite among the group of prints collected. The kids excitement level is high during the project and I love watching them get lost in the process of creating prints.

It always feels like Christmas morning when we do printmaking of any kind in the studio because there is always that element of surprise when you lift the paper from the plate. You never know quite what you are going to get and the studio is usually full of "ooh's and ahh's" and squeals of "look at this one" when they get their first look at the images.

I'm looking forward to doing this project again with the campers at Seymour Art Gallery in August. I'll be running the "Drawing from Nature" camp with the gallery also and I do believe there are a few spaces left if you want your child to join. Just call the gallery to register.