06 December 2025 – Afternoon – Workshops at Lincoln Castle: Gelli Plate Printed Christmas Cards with Lisa Tank

Description

Workshops at Lincoln Castle – Gelli Plate Printing Christmas Cards

6 December 1.30pm to 3.30pm at Lincoln Castle Heritage Skills Centre.

This workshop is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like to spend time experimenting with paint and printing and will introduce you to the delights of simple printing without a press using Gelli Plates.  Suitable for adults and children 14 and over.

In this fun and vibrant workshop, we will spend time learning the basic techniques of rolling out acrylic paint on to the Gelli plate and making prints on paper. You will be shown how to use a variety of mark making techniques, masking out and resist, stencils, imprints, layered colour and texture to produce exciting and interesting prints on different types of paper to take away with you.

We will base our designs on a Christmas theme, although you can also choose to make other prints and cards based on our surroundings and the recurring themes of the Castle, including Dragons and the Victorians. We’ll use stencils and stamps to embellish our prints and create some exciting, printed papers.

You will make a set of Christmas cards (or greetings cards) from your prints, and you can use your printed papers later for collage work, card making or framing.

What is Gelli Plate Printing?

Gelli Plate printing uses a gelatine plate, loaded with acrylic paint on the surface (usually applied with a brayer, or roller) to press paper or fabric. It is a mono printing technique which means that each print you make (or ‘pull’) is unique. Patterns can be created on the plate, or areas masked off, before paper is laid on top. Gentle pressure on the back of the paper (using hands or a brayer) is sufficient to transfer the paint to the paper.

What to bring

All tools and materials will be supplied but we recommend you bring an apron or something similar to cover your clothing.