For week 16, the Documented Life Project was the Gelli® Plate and the journal prompt was , “A lot on my plate.”

Jan:
This type of monoprinting is a favorite of mine. I like to use my homemade gelatin plate to make prints. I have used the same plate for the past year and a half made in a 9X9 glass pan. I finally made a larger one in a big glass pan and can print on a whole sheet of paper now. My inspiration for this print was a plant growing in my flower bed called a Silver Dollar plant. It has very unique seed pods that dry into a silver color disc. These plants were originally brought over by the Pilgrims.

My plants were just past the blooming point. The ends of the stems were filled with tiny purple flower clusters. When I was a child we had a large bush that we called a Silver Dollar Tree in our yard and my sister and I used its leaves for play money. The plants growing in my yard only get about three feet tall, so I am not sure what the plant we had was officially called when I was a child.

I made many prints using these stems adding layers upon layers. Several times I got to a point where I really liked the print, but then would decide to add one more layer and it ended up being too much. I decided that my response to the journal prompt of “having a lot on my plate” was going overboard with my layers of print. You just have to know when to say, “Enough!”

Melinda:

Has literally had a lot on her plate lately and will get to this one when she can.

My Princess:

Ninja Boy: He wanted to try the string printing  like I made a few weeks back.