5th Grade Gelatin Printing

Gelatin printing is a form of monoprinting in which a gelatin slab is used as a printing 'plate' in along with  standard water soluble printing inks to create images. We used tempra paint to create our prints. When textures and stencils are applied to the plate it leaves marks on the inked plate. Overlapping multiple colors and textures allow for the prints to become more and more interesting.

TRY THIS AT HOME 

You can use any shallow container.  

We used these 25oz. containers from Stop and Shop.

You want your gelatin plate to be about 1/4 thick, so for these containers we used the following recipe:

• 1/2 cup glycerine (you can find a small bottle at CVS or a large one online)

• 2 tbsp unflavored gelatin

• mix the gelatin and glycerine together, then add

• 1/2 cup boiling water

Stir gently to avoid making bubbles. Let your gelatin harden overnight, or speed up the process in the refrigerator. If your plate breaks while you are using it, simply wash off any extra paint and pop the jello in your microwave for about one minute.  Allow it to harden before you use it again.  Because of the glycerine, these plates will last for months without refrigeration.