About the Book
Discover the colourful world of gelli plate printing and create unique designs using this super-simple technique!
Use your prints to transform a range of items into bespoke pieces of art - from bags, bunting and lampshades, to wall art and even furniture.
The beauty of gelli plate printing is its simplicity - it's easy to get started, quick to clean up after use, and suitable for painting enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. Using a gelli plate as a base - readily available to buy, or made from gelatine using the recipe in the book - Katrin Klink and Sabine Ickler show you how to create your own striking monoprinted designs. Use your chosen paint to dab, stamp or stencil your designs, and make use of everyday household items, such as kitchen utensils or vegetables, as well as store-bought stamps, to create an infinite number of patterns and textures with minimal equipment and maximum impact.
You can print your designs onto a variety of surfaces or objects, including paper, fabrics, metal and wood - even onto curved and uneven surfaces - giving you enormous scope to create your own collection of vibrant designs, perfect to decorate or use in your home, or to give as wonderful personalized gifts.
Inside this practical, colourful book you will find:
A guide to all the tools and materials you need clearly explained.
A broad range of techniques, with full, beginner-friendly guidance.
An explanation of colour theory to put into practice within your own designs.
19 achievable projects, together with many more inspirational variations and customizable ideas for creating your own uniquely printed pieces.
Colourful photos to inspire your gelli plate printing journey!
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A translation of the popular German-language title by the crafting author duo Sabine Ickler and Katrin Klink.
Search Press Ltd recognises the following trademark in their publication Fun with Gelli Plate Prints:
The trademark Gelli® in North America and trademark Gelli Arts® around the world is the property of Gelli Arts LLC, 525 S. 4th Street Suite 246, Philadelphia, PA 19147, www.GelliArts.com.
Where the phrase 'gelli printing' and ‘gelli plate’ has been used in the book, this refers to the Gelli® trademark as above.
Search Press Ltd thank Gelli Arts LLC for their support in the publication of this title.
Table of Contents:
Introduction 6
Materials, paints & techniques
MATERIALS
The Gelli Plate 12
Paints 14
Paper and Fabric 16
Tools 18
Stamps 20
COLOURS
Understanding and Mixing Colours – The Colour Palette 24
The Colour Wheel 25
Colour Gradations 26
Saturation 27
Complementary Colours 28
Colours Around Us 29
Developing Your Own Colour Combinations 30
PRINTING
Printing with Simple Household Objects 34
Printing Simple Shapes 36
Multicolour Printing 38
Ghost Prints 40
STENCILS & STAMPS
The Grunge Effect 44
Potato Printing 48
Sketchbook with Potato Printing 50
Fabric Collection and Yellow Bag 52
Foam Rubber Stamps 54
Eraser Stamps 56
Japanese Fabric Bags 58
RESIST PRINTING
Wax Resist Technique 62
Motif Printing with Magazines 64
WATERCOLOURS
Using Watercolours 72
FREESTYLE
Printing Freestyle Patterns 76
Combining with Other Materials 78
Printing on Tissue Paper 79
Printing Large Surfaces or Joins 80
Printing Aprons 82
Printing Mandalas 84
From Print to Design – A Whole New World of Gelli Printing 90
Projects
Mini Book 96
Travel Bags 98
Gardening Gloves 104
Japanese Pouch 105
Cans, Boxes, and Bowls 106
Covering Objects with Tyvek® 108
Art Wall 110
Geometric Shapes 112
3D Geometric Shapes 114
Lampshades 116
Covering with Printed Tissue Paper 117
Shopping Bag 120
Bunting 121
Zipped Bag 122
Collage of Various Prints 124
Kimono 126
Lunch Bag 128
Bag with Rings 130
Oven Gloves 131
APPENDIX
Templates 134
About the Author :
Katrin Klink is an illustrator and graphic designer, and loves everything to do with patterns. She became passionate about printing during her studies at the Academy of Art in Stuttgart. She's been a big fan of gelli printing since her first attempts, for both the experimental approach and the opportunity to develop pattern designs, as well as making very specific projects. Katrin loves the effective results gelli print plates create, all with ease and minimal equipment.
Sabine Ickler loves creating new things and expressing her feelings for colours and shapes in her work. She is a graphic designer and mixed-media artist. Inspired by large, bright patterns from the seventies during her childhood, she now uses those bold colours - as vintage patterns or interpreted in a modern way - for projects such as covers for sketchbooks or travel diaries. Sabine enjoys how gelli printing offers the exciting opportunity to quickly and easily print her own patterns on paper, fabric and even on suitcases or furniture. Find her @herzfrisch on Instagram.
Review :
The title of this immediately suggests a not-too-in-depth introduction to a medium you may not have come across before. This is entirely appropriate as the process requires very little equipment (the introduction suggests just three items) and is therefore ideal for the beginner who maybe just wants to dip a toe into the water.
There is an extensive section on techniques, with preparation, application, use of colour and suggestions for suitable grounds and the use of stamps and stencils. Much of this may sound obvious, but this is a book for those with little or no experience in the field of art and is intelligently and lightly handled, making nothing ever a chore.
The project section is really more of a collection of ideas and suggestions, from fabrics to ceramics and wall art. Yes, you could probably work this out for yourself, but I think we’ve established that you are a complete beginner and welcoming of simple ideas. With nothing too complicated or onerous, you can be certain of worthwhile results quite quickly.
I was prepared to damn this with faint praise, but I’ve landed up liking it a lot. The authors don’t just know their stuff, they know their audience too.
An absolute visual delight. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned mixed-media artist, this book is packed with creativity, colour, and endless printmaking possibilities.
From the moment you open it, the photography steals the show—each page is exquisitely styled, rich in texture, and full of beautiful prints that instantly spark your imagination. It’s a true feast for the eyes, even before you get your hands inky. The layout is clean and intuitive, with a contents list that makes navigating the book a breeze. This is especially helpful if you’re diving back in to revisit a particular technique or idea.
The Materials section is an absolute gem, covering all the essential supplies in an easy-to-digest format. From types of gelli plates (including a DIY recipe!) to paints, papers, fabrics, tools, and stamps—this section alone is a wonderful primer for beginners and a good refresher for more experienced printmakers.
Every subsection is paired with informative text and clear visuals, making it easy to follow and incredibly engaging. Following the materials, Ickler and Klink dive into color theory—exploring gradation, saturation, and harmony—before launching into a series of fun and creative printing techniques.
Rather than being a rigid step-by-step manual, this book serves as a sourcebook for ideas and inspiration. It encourages exploration and play, inviting readers to experiment and find joy in the process of printing.
Fun with Gelli Plate Prints beautifully captures the spirit of creativity that Gelli printing embodies. It’s not just instructional—it’s motivational. Whether you’re looking to create prints for collage, cards, fabric, or just for the sheer fun of it, this book is a celebration of the artform.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to spark their creativity and dive into the colorful world of Gelli plate printing. I have had lots of fun experimenting with plants, cotton reels and multi-colour prints! Congratulations again to Sabine Ickler and Katrin Klink on this joyful and inspiring publication!
Ickler and Klink debut with a wonderful introduction to gelli printing, which in its simplest form involves pressing paper or fabric onto a gelatin plate covered in wet acrylic paint. The authors outline many variations on the process, suggesting that readers might create texture by marking up the painted plate with tools or utensils, or that they might place seedheads on the gelli before printing to make silhouettes of the plants. The magazine resist technique is particularly impressive and entails pressing a glossy page onto a painted plate, which retains the image, and then printing the result. Other strategies include using stamps to absorb paint on gelli plates, which produces a relief of the stamp’s image on the final print, and generating a “grunge effect” by placing stenciled letters on a painted plate and then covering them with another color before printing, leaving behind hazy impressions of the letters. The bounty of techniques showcases the medium’s many possibilities, though the projects offer more inspiration than guidance. For instance, the authors show how they used cutout block letters to adorn the word “bag” onto fabric, but give only a rudimentary description of how they transformed that fabric into a drawstring backpack. Still, this will get crafters’ creative juices flowing.
