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Gel Printing with an Oreo

If it’s got a pattern on it, it just might make a great gel printing tool! Oreos have plenty of pattern on them so I had to give it a try! Fair warning, cookies were harmed in the making of these prints, after all, once they get paint on them they aren’t safe to eat.

Using a cookie to gel print means you have the possibility of bonus textural effects – the occasional crumb.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles. I just didn’t know my own strength and the cookie broke and that’s a good thing! Why? Because it’s an O.O.P.S., an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly. Those broken bits make it easy to fill in an entire space, more easily that if they all were still round!

The pattern from the Oreo looks like a pattern on a bandana in some prints, in others it looks like manhole covers, and in others it has a boho kind of vibe.

One color is fantastic but what if you want to add another color? In the video, I shared two quick ways to do that.

To create the green Oreo grunge look here a second color was added directly to the gel plate.

You can also add color to print after you’ve taken the pull. Here, I’m adding a second color using a paint brush.

Which is better? One color, two colors on the plate, or color added after printing? That’s a personal decision and it depends on the look you want.

Oreos aren’t the only thing you can do with a gel plate! There’s a whole lot more and if you’re ready to go deeper then check out my workshops.

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links may be affiliate links which means I get a small percentage and it doesn’t cost you anything extra! It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you get a really good feeling knowing that you are helping keep the free tutorials coming!


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  • Maureen Sala February 4, 2022, 11:36 am

    Fun times. What possibilities- cookies, wrappers, potato peels, skin of oranges. Thx for the inspiration

    • Carolyn Dube February 5, 2022, 8:40 am

      Absolutely oodles of possibilities Maureen!

  • Jan E. Abrams February 4, 2022, 5:13 pm

    Call me crazy, but when I spied the green print in the photo of all 3 prints above I immediately “saw” Klimt’s “The Kiss”…go figure! Fun stuff Carolyn.

  • Adrienne+McMurdy February 4, 2022, 5:30 pm

    The only thing different I would do is…..print with one…eat one etc.!! LOL!!

  • MJ February 4, 2022, 6:45 pm

    I love this! So pretty and I especially loved your addition of color in the white area of the print. So simple but adds a lovely pop of color. I am so glad you threw that on there at the end. You’re a genius! Thanks for doing crazy things with stuff around the house and showing it can be used to make more art!

    • Carolyn Dube February 5, 2022, 8:39 am

      You’re very welcome MJ! So glad you enjoyed it!

  • Polly February 4, 2022, 7:14 pm

    I loved this, Carolyn, thankyou! The one thing you haven’t mentioned …..how many cookies did you rescue for the coffee break?

    This really chimes in with the video you made about the differing transparency of paints. The blue (is that phthalocyanine blue?) looks very translucent, and I like it a lot for this particular purpose, especially the beautiful way it blends with the green applied on top.

    Did you find my email telling you that I mentioned you in my latest blog post? It’s on my website, please do have a read of the post called “2020-2022” at http://www.pollyrockberger.com (I’m quite happy for you to edit this paragraph out of my comment, by the way, and quite right too, I’m not trying to piggyback!! ).

    I’m now thinking of all the biscuits I have downstairs, especially some lovely beurre salé ones I brought back from France …..though I’m not sure I can sacrifice them to the cause of art as they are very delicious.

    Thanks again for a very interesting and lovely video. I have Covid and asthma at the moment, and no energy for making art, but watching you this evening has cheered me up no end and makes me super-keen to get started again, thankyou so much, and warmest wishes from Polly in London, UK.

    • Carolyn Dube February 5, 2022, 8:39 am

      Hope you get your energy back soon and feel better Polly and thanks for the shout out on your blog post. Those biscuits sound precious, so I might be with you and not willing to sacrifice them!

  • Claire Harrison February 4, 2022, 10:11 pm

    What a fun play. Now I can see you creating some interesting stencils in the future from all the food play you can do 🙂

    • Carolyn Dube February 5, 2022, 8:35 am

      I agree Claire, there are some great textures and patterns in the kitchen!

  • Sharyl+Peterson February 5, 2022, 1:11 pm

    Wow, sweet success!!! Pastry perfection!!! This made me giggle … I am forever picking up “weird stuff” just to see if/how it will print. Most recently, got some mini-cable-holders from which I am expecting great things … just haven’t had time to print them yet. I do have a suggestion/request for Dave — he needs to figure out how the Oreos can be pre-treated so they will release the paint, and can still be eaten afterward. Oreos are among my favorite cookies, and it kills me to think of wantonly throwing their painty little corpses into the garbage-can! And then, my own other half (the one who’s forever teasing me about picking up weird things to print with) who also watched the video with me, came by and said, “you know, it might be the artistically responsible thing to do to experiment with other kinds of cookies … like those vanilla sugar-wafers (that basically taste like styrofoam), that have kinda nifty designs on them.” Happy pastry-printing, Sharyl

  • KAREN WRENNE February 5, 2022, 7:04 pm

    I happened to have ONE oreo cookie left in my package (how did THAT ever happen???) and tried this. So much fun! I already had my 3×5 gelli press out, tried Simon’s technique with water color powders. They did not turn out so well, but after layering with oreo prints, I had a couple of keepers! Thank you!