Here are the things you will need to buy and/or collect for this class.

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Must Haves:

Gel Plate

First of all, you will need a gel plate. I recommend either the Gelli Arts 8x10" Gel Printing Plate or the Gel Press Monoprinting Plate (8x10"). I use the Gel Press Version, but there's not much difference between the two. I recommend the 8x10" size as it's pretty versatile and large enough, but if your heart is set on another size, go for it.

DO NOT buy a Speedball brand plate. While Speedball is a great brand for printmaking tools and supplies, their printing plate is meant for their printing inks, and WILL NOT WORK with acrylic paints. If you buy a Speedball plate for this class, you will be sad.

Brayer

A brayer is essentially a spinning roller with a handle. It is used to move the paint around on the plate, and is the only way to ensure you get a nice even layer of paint. I'd recommend getting a couple so you're not constantly cleaning them. I like the 4" brayer best, but I'd suggest that you also get a 2" brayer. This is the set I have: 4pcs Rubber Roller. The Speedball Pop-in Soft Rubber Brayer is really nice as well, because you can pop that roller right out to clean it. If you go that route, I would suggest getting more than one.

Acrylic Paint

You will need some paint or ink to use on your gel plate. In actuality, you can use almost anything on your gel plate (but that is experimentation for another day). For this class, you will need Acrylic paints. If you have some at home already, those are more than fine. If you need to buy some, I recommend Liquitex Basics - it's an affordable, but quality brand that will perform well. The Liquitex BASICS 5 Tube Acrylic Paint Set is a great starter kit. If you're looking for a few more colors, get the Liquitex BASICS 12 Tube Acrylic Paint Set. You can always addd more colors later as you need them and as you learn what you like.

Paper

You will need something to make your prints on. I suggest buying a ream of acid free card stock, such as Neenah 8 1/2" x 11" Heavyweight Cardstock. I've used that in the past and it's been really good. I now buy Springhill White 8 1/2"x 11" Cardstock Paper in a case because I go through a lot of it.

Nice To Haves

Here are a few other things you will probably want to get, but these are optional.

Color Wheel

A color wheel is an amazing tool to use in your artmaking. It takes the guesswork out of choosing colours for your artwork, making it easy to consider and choose different kinds of color schemes. I recommend one such as this Creative Color Wheel. I also really like this 3-in-1 Color Tool, which helps you choose colors wisely. It also has a couple of transparent colored cards in it which can help when working with values.

Tyvek

Tyvek is a material that is used as a moisture barrier in building houses. It looks like a paper, but it's a plastic rather than a fibre, which makes it super strong and pretty much un-tear-able. It makes great reusable stencils. I recommend the JAM Paper Tyvek 8 1/2" x 11" if you're interested in trying this, but know that it's optional. Plastic poly dividers work well for this too, but there are some nuances that we can discuss if it's of interest.

Plexiglas

I prefer to have my gel plate on top of a piece of plexiglas that is slightly bigger than the gel plate. The ones I use are from the art supply store, in a 9x12" size. This just gives me a solid surface to mount the plate on (that the oil of the plate won't leach into) that I can pick up and manipulate pretty easily. This is completely optional, but definitely handy.

Other Paints and Mediums

These are also optional, but have definite applications.

• Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Paint in Mars Black - I love Liquitex, but not their black paint for some reason. This one is blacker and more opaque and works great with the other Liquitex colors.
• Gel medium - You can use this as a transparent layer to pull prints without adding any more color.
• Retarding Medium - This is a medium you can add to your paint to slow down the drying time. This allows you more time to work, and it does have applications, but quite honestly, I prefer to work fast. If you're having trouble pulling your prints before the paint is dry, this will help.
• You might also want to use some other media to embellish your gel prints further. Some of my favorites are colored pencils (Prismacolors are AMAZING, but you don't have to go that expensive), gel pens (Sakura Gelly Roll are nice), Stabilo Woodies (get a pack with the sharpener - you will need it), and Posca Paint pens (these write on ANYTHING).

Dollar Store Items

Wet Wipes are the quickest and easiest way to clean your tools and your hands.

Q-tips and makeup sponges are great tools for adding and removing paint from the plate.

Fun Foam is a cheap and versatile way to make stamps. If they have the self-adhesive kind, get that one, but you can also use a white PVA glue such as Elmer's to do the job, you just have to wait for it to dry.

Get some scrap stiff cardboard or mattboard, or some foam core (dollar store quality is good enought, this doesn't need to be archival) to use to mount your stamps on.

I love to use plastic binder dividers to make stencils. You can buy these as a pack of 6 or 8 sheets in the stationery section.

You'll also want to collect some basic supplies like scissors, a pencil, a sharpie, and some masking or painters tape. A couple of paint brushes and popsicle sticks are also useful sometimes, but you'll probably use those less than you think.

Finally, look around your house for things with texture, such as packaging (such as cardboard, bubble wrap, and egg cartons), fabrics, string, lace, tin foil, etc. These can be used to make interesting patterns and texture on the gel plate, but know that anything you use for the gel plate needs to be sacrificed to this purpose only. The dollar store is also a great place to look for things with textures you can use in your artwork.

If you have any other suggestions or things you've found useful, please leave a comment in the facebook group!