Caring for your Gel Plate: Tips and Advice 

Thank you. I will be back creating again soon, I promise x

Glad it helped

Without looking at your brayer it sounds like it has build up of acrylic paint. Without a proper cleaning i found that it was building up. I found a video on RU-vid with how to remedy and also online. Two choices (I do the 1st one and have not done the second one but am going to try it out soon): after you finish gel plate printing session soak the brayer in water with some liquid dish soap (I use Dawn). Let it soak for about 15-30 minutes. Then use a soft brush like the kind you use for cleaning nails and gently scrub it and voila! It removes ALL the acrylic paint layered up. The colors might stain the brayer but I don’t mind that especially if the brayer roller is black. (Be careful you don’t submerge your brayer if it has a wooden handle) 2nd option is to get some Murphy’s Oil Soap - large bottle. Pour into a container that can hold a good amount of the soap and you can submerge fully your brayer roller (again careful with your wooden handle ones as it may damage your handle). Don’t put several at same time if they can’t fit without the brayer rollers touching. Leave it overnight and next day the layers of paint will slide off. Supposed to leave them looking like new. You can keep the Murphy Oil Soap in container and re-use it again for future clean offs. I did read that you could just mix some with water and has similar results and throw out the soapy water afterwards. First one works for me because that’s the first thing I start of in my clean up of my area and tools. So by the time I’m done with that area clean up my brayer has soaked long enough and I can easily remove the acrylic built up by gently brushing them with a nail brush. Hope that helps you! (I’m a newbie on this too and am just sponging up everyone’s tips and knowledge as I experiment. It’s been loads of fun that it’s all I think about doing when I get home 😅. It was my thing to do in my 1.5 week stay-cation over this holiday.)

Wet wipes are convenient but I try to avoid them unless they are biodegradable. I haven't had a rough texture on my plate so can't advise you on that, sorry.

I really don't know. If your plate is very dirty it may be worth spending some time to get it as clean as you can, and then it should be easier to keep it cleaner. If a lot of paint is left on the plate after pulling a print, use paper to try and pull more off before cleaning. If the paint has dried on, add a very thin layer of wet paint and then use paper to pull most of it off. However, you could learn to love it, some people choose to leave leftover paint on the plate as it adds texture and pattern to future prints. Hope this helps x

@@TeresaMorgan Thank you very much for your advice. I have tried you 'guide' on the smaller plate and it seems to work. I think I will try to use a paint that doesn't dry as fast as the one I'm using now (Golden Fluid) . Looking forward to viewing more of your videos :)

I rinse my plate in the sink when I am done painting for the day. It cleans up easily that way. Dry and store for next time.

I guess you should see improvement after a couple of weeks. Use the plate and clean/condition/store as I suggested and it should settle unless the bubbles are very severe.

@@TeresaMorgan thank you for your help 😊

Did yours ever smooth out?

@@margorudder6781 Hi Margo, I have had a break from craft and card making so not sure 🤣

I am sorry you are having problems. What brand is your plate?

@@TeresaMorgan stampendous, creative pallette

@@melissasmith3297 I haven't used that myself but have seen several posts in the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts group about it. It seems that you have to add an extender medium to the paint to stop it drying so quickly. A lot of people have been disappointed with it for the reasons you stated. My advice would be to try and return it and by a Gel Press plate instead. I know it isn't good news, but at least you are not alone in having this issue - it is the plate at fault, not you.

What do use then with the plastic sheets being a no no for air bubbles ? Either way it's bad news mine is only newish so worried about maintaining an investment for me.

vous pouvez activer les sous-titres dans les paramètres youtube, puis choisir l'option traduire automatiquement et choisir la langue. La traduction est approximative car générée par un robot mais ça aide quand même