The Gelli Arts Printing Plates look and feel like soft gelatin but do not contain any animal products are silicon and latex-free, non-toxic and can be used over and over again. It's best to use this plate with acrylic paints such as the Specialist Crafts X4 to get superb printed results. Using a roller or soft brush apply colour to the Gelli plate, lay stencils over the top and apply another colour of acrylic plate to product a multi-colour print in no time at all. To create lots of different textures try using bubble-wrap, plastic grids, foam stamps, stencils, leaves and string as your stencil. Do not allow paints to dry but simply wash off with a mild soap and water and pat dry with a lint-free cloth. Other water-based paints can be used but dyes will stain the plate which makes its more difficult to see if you have applied enough paint on its surface for future print so are not recommended. Oil paints can be used and cleaned from the gel printing plate with baby oil and wiped clean with a paper towel. Such a great creative printing plate. Store at room temperature and in the original packaging or between plastic palettes, glass or similar to keep the plates flat and in prime condition. Do not place your gel printing plate directly on a porous surface, like a wooden table, which may absorb a small amount of harmless mineral oil which can exude from the plate when exposed to warm environments. This is normal and, when wiped off, will not affect printing performance. Do not use any glossy paper stock, including glossy photo paper. It can stick to and damage the surface of the gel plate and standard cartridge paper or similar is ideal.