Everybody knows how to use gel. You select the color to enhance the mood you
want to convey, slide it into a gel frame and place it in the gel frame
holder in the front of your instrument. But sometimes you find you need a
subtle mix of colors to achieve the look you want, such as a sunset, water or
a stained-glass window effect. Sometimes you feel the need to add extra
excitement to a pattern.
These effects are easily attained through the use of split gels- various
pieces of gel taped together. The light from an instrument will blend the
colors a little bit, but you'll still get enough separation of color to
achieve some interesting and unique looks. There are endless ways that
colors can be used together to achieve a myriad of looks. It is important to
note that a split gel will look entirely different depending on which way it
is inserted in the instrument, which instrument and beam spread is being
used, even which pattern you are using with the split gel. A stained-glass
window split will have three different appearances when used with three
different window patterns.
That said, let's look at the various ways a split gel can be arranged.
1. Standard Split Gel. |
Using G810 Moon Blue and G320 Peach, tape together
straight down the centerline. This is a widely used style of split gel, and
works well for sunsets, or just about any other two-color effect. |
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2. Sandwich Style Split Gel. |
G730 Azure Blue paired in a "sandwich" with
G1516 .6 ND provide an interesting stormy look. As with the standard split
above, any two-color effect can be achieved this way. |
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RESULT |
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3. Quartered Split. |
This split can be achieved by either quartering
sandwich style, as shown, or standard style. Dividing up the colors in this
way makes the color separation and blending more dynamic. This works well
for moving effects. G850 Blue (Primary) and G250 Medium Red XT, shown here,
can be seen in action in the Recipe Book Video entitled "Sunburst". |
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4. Multiple Split Gel (Fire). |
This split gel uses a variety of reds oranges
and yellows to give fire it's multi-dimensional hue. Any variation on these
colors and any taping technique can give added realism to your fire effect.
Some good fire colors to try include G280 Fire Red, G290 Fire Orange, G355
Amber Flame, and G450 Saffron. Remember- go easy on the yellows. A little
goes a VERY long way. |
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5. Multiple Split Gel (Gas Fire). |
Using the same technique of mixing fire
colored gels, add a small amount of blue-green such as G710 Blue Green to
give the appearance of a gas jet creating a flame. |
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RESULT |
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6. Multiple Split Gel (Water). |
Water looks best using both lighter blues
and cyans. You can also mix in a few no color spots to add the appearance of
reflection. This one was created by using a hole punch to randomly remove
bits of color from two gels- G710 Blue Green and G780 Shark Blue, and then
taping the two colors directly over each other. A bit of colorless light
escapes the gel at various points. This is good for providing a surface
water effect. |
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7. Split Gel (Water Variation). |
A small circle of G760 Aqua Blue is applied
to a hole cut in the center of G725 Princess Blue. As the beam of the
fixture spreads out, the two colors mix together to suggest deeper water. |
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8. Multiple Split Gel (Autumn Leaves). |
Using G315 Autumn Glory, G390
Walnut, G410 Yellow Gold and G570 Light Green Yellow, arrange and tape to
suit your personal aesthetic. Overlapping colors slightly in this case works
for you, facilitating the blending of various hues to give your fall colors
effect depth and realism. You can create a spring branches effect by taping
a variety of greens together using the same technique. |
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9. Multiple Split Gel (Stained Glass Window). |
Using heavily saturated,
almost primary colors, and again your own design preferences, (these colors
are G650 Grass Green, G915 Twilight, and G140 Dark Magenta) Tape together to
create a stained glass window effect. Keep your color pieces chunky and
don't overlap too heavily, or your colors will blend too much to look
effective. Use more pastel tones to create a spring flowers or butterfly
wings gel, but remember to use colors that are distinctly different from each
other to avoid them all bleeding together to create one muddy color. |
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10. Center Pool Split Gel. |
This variation on a two color split (G342
Cantaloupe and G140 Dark Magenta) helps to supply shading and visual interest
to just about any pattern. Try it with an amorphous breakup, or even with a
pattern such as 329 Atom. Using a split color with one of GAM's moving
effect units, such as the TwinSpin II, will make the colors appear to blend
into and away from each other. Letting colors overlap slightly will increase
this effect. |
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11. No Color Split. |
Leaving gaps of no color in your split gel can either
lend highlights or help to define and separate colors. You can remove a
section of gel directly from the center, like this one (G235 Pink Red and
G815 Moody Blue), or you can try removing various bits from several points in
you split gel. |
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12. The Artistic Split. |
This "designer" split gel is really only for show.
You won't actually see in the light the patterns you create with the gel. In
terms of function, color placement is more important than overall gel
appearance. This one uses G140 Dark Magenta, G420 Medium Amber and G780
Shark Blue. Use your imagination to create fanciful patterns for split gels
that may be in audience view, or that you feel just need a little artistic
vision. |
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RESULT |
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