While out walking the dog today I saw and snatched some fern leaves which I brought home to use with my gelli plate and the ever faithful Paynes Grey acrylic paint.

While I was at it, I popped across the road from my house and snipped some frothy grass which I thought would print well too.

I used my large rectangle gelli plate and my small circle to pull prints of the outlines of the leaves as well as prints of the details of the leaves.

I always start with a layer of paint then I put down the leaf.  To get the reverse silhouette print I press down the paper and smooth it out as carefully but as firmly as possible to get as much outline as I can.

Once the paper is pulled off, I remove the leaf and press down a fresh piece of paper to get the detail print of the leaf left on the plate.

If there is enough paint left on the leaf itself I press it onto the paper and get an extra print from the leaf itself.

I had in mind to use a few colours but got set on Paynes Grey as it gives such effective prints especially when it is a mono print with no additional effects to be added using the gelli plate.

I love the vintage index cards when they are printed and of course my all time favorites are prints on old dictionary paper and dry wax deli paper.

I will use some of these prints as they are, for example I am thinking I might use the index cards to mail as postcards as they are the size of a postcard.

The prints on the deli paper are translucent so I like to stick them onto journal pages where there is something already on the page so that you can see it through the deli paper.  It makes a lovely layered effect.

Do you make gelli prints? What do you do with them?  What is your favorite paper to print onto?

Happy printing and happy Thursday x