Gelography

Hello Fellow Gelologists,

Suffixes and Prefixes.  Remember those from English and Latin classes? If you're like me, you might have trouble remembering the differences between an electrocardiograph and an electrocardiogram. One's the machine and one's the readout.  As to which one is which, you'll have look it up. 

But you probably know the difference of say, astronomy vs. astrology.  Nomy means the systematic knowledge of, and Logy, is the study of.  So with Astronomy you have the science of stars and the universe and with astrology you learn whether you should leave your house that day or cheat on your spouse.  Err... uhm.

So what's the difference between gelology and gelography? If you Google "gelography" you first get, "Did you mean: geography?" 

And no Sir, er... Maam, err.. or whatever gender you are Google,  I most certainly did not.  I meant GELOGRAPHY." 

Which leads you to a lot of spelling errors links.  So let me be the first to coin, (OK I'm not the first) Gelography- the art of printing and drawing onto gelatin.  

I learned this technique from Michelle Quiles at Blooming Gelatin Art in Los Angeles. Using vegetable dye pens, food coloring, and brushes I made this as tribute to my past co-worker and present Gel-fan- Julia.

Under the big blue gelatin sea..

For someone like myself who is not skilled at drawing or painting, it's not too hard to do. Gel printing and painting was a lot of fun- something kids could do at a birthday party. Or even as a school project. What a great way to get kids excited about writing and spelling!  In my previous job-incarnation I worked on a Mobile Laboratory (with Julia) and the kids would get so excited when you'd have them write on the walls with whiteboard markers.  Don't worry the wall were erasable. Sometimes a simple change in how you present something can make or break a lesson.  Back to gelatin...

I started with a 5 inch by 8 inch sheet of milk gelatin. Pretty simple recipe.


Milk gelatin (adapted from Michelle Quiles' recipe)
2 cups water
2 Envelopes Knox gelatine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Mix the two cups of water with Knox gelatine in a microwave proof bowl.  Zap on high for 2 minutes and stir.  Add the sugar and sweetened condensed milk. Stir again and pour into a pan a lightly oiled pan. Refrigerate for a couple of hours. 

 I drew the anchor image first using the vegetable dye markers.

Then painted the water and sand background. And the Lobster, because no one knows more about lobsters than Julia. She's the lobsterologist!  Now if only she could invent lobsterography.

Until next time,

Peace, love, and Jell-O!