The ABC Printing Challenge I am working on is U: Upcycle. At the moment I am sharing experiments. I was watching the sample video, gelli plate printing on plastic bags, and it made me think of clear things, like plastic page protectors, hard plastic packaging, and clear contact paper. And I thought about things that would remain clear – like Alcohol inks. That set me off on a journey LOL!
First experiment was thinking I might make a version of the circle curtain, using page protectors or contact paper instead of plastic bags. I thought they would be too opaque. Interesting but not very crisp, visually
So I tried adding the AI to the plate thru a stencil then sat looking at all that wasted ink ON the stencil. With the ink drying on the plate
I shifted over to another idea. I stuck a sheet of contact paper over the STENCIL – both sides had plenty of AI on them – and dripped a bit of straight alcohol into the holes. As part of the Upcycle part, I was using that hard foamy, plastic packaging to apply the ink, so pouncing that thru the holes added some of the ink on the packaging as well.
Such a lovely burst of colour! I stuck that to a bit of hard plastic clamshell packaging and held it up tot the light. Yummy!
Much like the first one, it is still indistinct, albeit pretty enough. Possibly need more of a play. In the end I peeled it off the plastic and added it to some white paper. And I pulled the print off the plate and did the same.
Love it but not sure how to use it. I do have a thought for the other bit, and will share that tomorrow!
scrappystickyinkymess 
27/09/2022 at 7:39 pm
This reminds me of when I was a child making “Shrinky Dinks.” Do you remember those? You used markers and painted on thin plastic. Then you cut them out and placed on a tray in the oven. The pieces would curl up and shrink then lay flat. When you removed them from the oven you had a smaller piece that you could turn into jewelry or just hang up in a window as a sun catcher.
When I used to be a teacher I applied that concept to a project using recycled plastic. My students used various forms of plastic including plastic bottles, plastic packaging materials etc.