Gelli printing, black and white

My friend Laura and I spent most of Saturday gelli printing. You don't have to twist my arm too hard to get me to gelli print.

Laura in action

 

I forgot to take pictures of any of her prints.
 
I had started a bunch of backgrounds previously to use with my new Denver skyline stencil.  I found the results pretty disappointing. The skyline looked a bit static and uninteresting. Often the print looked smudged, which doesn't work well for buildings. Also, the black wasn't a solid black, so the print just didn't look good to me.

Then I started playing with using textured papers and stencils to add pattern. I thought this was way more interesting and tried this with some other stencils as well.

And then I made a lot of prints.

I basically covered my plate with black paint and pressed textured papers and stencils into the paint (these stencils were not left on the plate, just used to add pattern into the black paint). Then, for the one shown below, I placed three circle stencils on the plate, and pulled a print. Then I removed the circle stencils and pulled a ghost print. 

The connected ovals are a custom handmade stencil. 

I had a great time with these. The last three were actually done on my 11" x 14" gelli plate so they are quite big. I think it is funny that whenever I have a specific idea for my gelli plate session, I often end up someplace else entirely.  I am thinking about adding color to these, but haven't made a decision yet.