I can't believe I waited so long to experiment with CitraSolv! One of my Altered Ladies friends sent me a coupon for $1 off a bottle, so with a little help from my co-worker, I finally found the product at Whole Foods. My next mission was to head down to the annual Friends of the Library book sale and pick up a bunch of National Geographic magazines. Apparently, the ink used in these magazines works best with CitraSolv. The only thing missing was some art buddies to play with!
Last weekend, some art friends came over for a playdate. Late in the day, I asked two of them if they wanted to play with my new bottle of CitraSolv. No hesitation there! First we tried to follow the tutorial in a recent Somerset Studios magazine issue. That was not particularly helpful, so I turned to trusty YouTube for CitraSolv videos. Seemed easy enough.
I gathered up the supplies we would need (besides the CitrSolv and magazines) like newspapers, spray bottles, and bubble wrap and plastic bags (for texture). We spent latter part of the afternoon happily spraying CitraSolv on pages of the magazines. We tried to apply the CitraSolv with foam brushes but quickly learned that it was better to use the spray bottles to saturate the pages enough to yield results like you see in the images above. You can also apply CitraSolv to individual pages that have been torn out of the magazine, but to be honest, leaving the entire magazine intact worked really well. After liberally coating the colorful pages with CitraSolv, simply close the magazine and squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can. Then wait 5 minutes or more before separating your pages.
It was so exciting to see what surprises the CitraSolv created. We used bubble wrap and plastic bags to add texture to the still-damp pages. CitraSolv pages make for interesting, almost haunting backgrounds. Some look like the cosmos, some resembled the skin of a reptile. You can keep them as is or embellish over them. Best of all, they are so much fun to make!
Posts
Lorena when you squeeze the liquid between the pages,does a lot come out-did you have to do it over a sink?
ReplyDeleteJanet, no sink needed. You can spread layers of old newspaper out over your well-ventilated workspace (that's why we were outside) and the newspaper will absorb the excess liquid just fine. Try it!
Delete