Envelopes & Monoprinting

  I spent the day making monoprints that will ultimately become a set of envelopes. I made a template and drew out the pattern on several different  kinds of papers, different sizes as well.

As I worked, I realized I did not need to draw it out ahead of time, I can use my template as a pattern after the prints dry. I borrowed a few extra gelli plates from a friend to increase the scale I could print to make the envelopes larger while keeping consistency with the pattern and color palette you get with a single pull of a print. I put one of the predrawn papers underneath the plates as a guide, the transparency was perfect for that. I put the plates next to each other and lined the seems with the edges of the folds of the envelope.

I realized that the store bought gelli plates were not as generous with the ghost prints as the homemade plate. The ghost print is, in my opinion, the desired result. The larger surface area was challenging as well, I had to ink the plates faster.

I did continue to use the smaller plate as well. I want to make different size envelopes for comparison sake. I used the gear stencils as well as the stencils I made of the Capitol building and letters. I printed on two sides, but I am not sure if that is going to work out, lining that up was pretty tricky. I have plenty of prints for experimentation.