I had every intention of working on my current project when I started out the day. But I happened to browse through the current copy of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and ended up taking a slight detour. There is a little workshop in there about the CitraSolv technique. I've read about this technique before and have seen the gorgeous results. But this time it really got my attention. So I headed out in search of CitraSolv (found at local health food store) and a National Geographic magazine (had to buy one; couldn't find any at the local thrift stores).The photo at the top of this post uses one of my favorite backgrounds that I achieved with this technique. The digital characters are provided by Granny Art. While I was doing some digital work, I tried a short tutorial on "zipping" a photo:
Back to the CitraSolv papers. I scanned in all of my results. Here I've included a few of my favorites. This one, by far, is my favorite one of all. I've not only used it in these digital pieces but I've printed it out onto a sheet of silk. Gorgeous!
Here are a few more with lots of possibilities:
The hardest part about the technique is finding the materials! I did manage to find CitraSolv pretty easily once I located a health food store. None of the area groceries carried it. I tried this technique Thursday and today (Sunday) the house still has a faint smell of oranges. The CitraSolv is concentrated and you don't dilute it for the technique so you will have a very strong orange smell in your space for a few days.
Now I'm on the hunt for some used National Geographic magazines. I tried this with a few of my fashion mags but with no luck. There must be something specific in these pages that reacts with the solvent. I definitely want to build up a little stash of these for collages, painting, etc.
Now, back to my original project! I am beginning to see why finishing some things is very hard for me: need to stay focused on the task at hand!
4 comments:
This is fascinating Pam and what gorgeous results- I would like to find out about that "zipping" technique too. This is really stunning work - you have been busy and what a wonderful detour you took- so much fun and thanks for sharing this!
Pam these are beautiful. We're so glad you liked the Citra Solv article. Keep your eyes out for more coverage of Citra Solv in upcoming issues--you never know when more inspiration may pop up!
Best, Jenn Mason, Editor, Cloth Paper Scissors
These are gorgeous! Citra Solv can really create some awesome effects. I'll have to get much more now, some for cleaning and some to do this. If mine will look as half as yours I'll consider myself satisfied :p
-Amanda
lol, i guess it depends in the end which project is more valuable and enjoyable. i get terribly sidetracked too, but i'm really enjoying that. i don't know what the citrisolve is but i'm going to assume you've sprayed it on the paper...very interesting. great effect. now i didn't even know there was such a thing as silk paper.
Post a Comment