Gel Printing Plates FAQ

Our artists have used a variety of media successfully on the Gel Press plate.

We have seen incredible prints with everything from Tempera Paints to Oil Pigment Sticks.

Acrylic paints are the most popular medium of choice. If you prefer
to have more time to work with your media you can add a retarder, glaze
or open medium to your paint, but this is not necessary.

Our Gel Press surface is engineered to release the media, so even
fast-drying media, such as metallic acrylic colors and alcohol-based
inks can be used in conjunction with a medium to ‘pickup’ your print.

Certain colors of Alcohol Ink in the bright yellows and greens may
stain your Gel Press Plate but please note that it does not affect the
performance of the plate itself.

The key to media selection is that if you can wash the media off the
plate with materials you would use to clean your hands – then it should
work well on the plate.

Any surface that is smooth works best for capturing the most detail.

The more textured the surface, the more primitive the print.

The only surface we strongly suggest you avoid is photography papers.
The emulsion on these papers can separate and stick to the plate and
may damage the surface permanently.

We do not recommend storing the plates with the Mylar sheets that
come with them. These are simply part of the post-manufacturing process and can be discarded after first use. Remove the product insert, and store your Gel Press plate in the clam shell packaging.

Storing your plate flat will lead to less weight on the surface and
therefore less chance of having a trapped air bubble create a noticeable indentation.

Don’t worry. It is quite common and not a defective plate; but how it
is reacting to changes in its environment. The bubbles aren’t in the
plate; but at the surface, as air becomes trapped between the Mylar
sheets and the plate; which creates indentations.

This sometimes occurs in areas of high altitude / low pressure or
when a plate is shipped and transitioning to/from an area with these conditions to another nearer to sea level.

It also happens when items are stacked on top of the plate (another
reason we like to store them upright!); or if the Mylar sheets were
replaced and an air bubble was trapped underneath.

We have found that placing the clean plate between two sheets of
smooth copy paper on a smooth non-porous surface (such as a glass
table), and taking care to place the paper on top without trapping air
bubbles; then putting a larger item, such as a book on top, for a couple
of days – tends to remove any unwanted artifacts from the surface.

The copy paper tends to pull out the oil and ‘plump’ up the surface
again. But it shouldn’t be stored this way long term because it would
continue to do so.

Thereafter we still recommend storing upright, in its original
packaging, and without the Mylar sheets. Once they are removed, they should be discarded.

Acrylic and most other paints can be cleaned off with soap and water or baby wipes.

Oil Pigment Sticks can be cleaned off with a drop of baby oil, and wiped from the surface.

Alcohol Inks can be removed with a bit of gel hand sanitizer.

Clean your plate and pat dry with a lint-free cloth before storing.