Cranes at Sunset

This is another one of the National Geographic Citrasolv backgrounds. For the cranes, I used a mask from the stencil from this quilt and digitized it. Then in SeaShore 3, I played with the alpha layers and put them together.


Here it is on another one of the NG Citrasolv backgrounds. It kind of looks like the mud from the marsh is pulling them back down.

Gypsy Dancer

Gypsy Dances in the Flames of the Burning City

This looks like a simple collage, and in truth, I did try cutting out the silhouette of the dancer with the intention of gluing her down onto the page. But she had too many fine details, and the edges of the paper came out white. Not good.

On to the more complicated Plan B : I wanted to do it on my computer with graphics software.

The background image is from one of my National Geographic and Citrasolv experiments last summer. I always thought this image looked like a city on fire since you could still see a building in the top right corner. The ink dissolved and ran like flames as it dried ...

It called out for a dancer in the foreground ... so I got a stock image and learned about layers, and alpha channels, and (with my sweet husband's help) got these 2 images to work together. Not so simple as a quick cut and paste.

I used Seashore 3 for Mac. It's kind of a GIMP-lite. I'm not quite ready for GIMP yet.

NG with Citrasolv Set 3

National Geographic (November 2008 issue) dissolved with Citrasolv.
Love this technique!

Citrasolv Backgrounds : Round 2

Here is another round of Citrasolved National Geographic background pages.

I'm still amazed with these results! Enjoy!

How do I keep all these pages organized?
I seem to get about 45 usable pages from a single issue of NG. Many pages are 2-sided.
1) I put each page into a sheet protector, in a binder. I keep the issue cover so I know which issue these pages came from. They are usually so "transformed" with the Citrasolv dissolving the inks that you can't usually tell what the original image was.
2) Picassa helps me organize, view, and edit the digital versions so that I'll be able to use them in various ways -- like how about a new background for this blog?

WOW! : Citrasolv Backgrounds

On The Sketchbook Challenge Blog, I found Diana Trout's How-to-do-it Video on using Citra Solv to create beautiful backgrounds for collage.

Here are my results :


You can click on the slideshow to see larger images. These all came from the April 2008 issue of National Geographic, in case you are interested in getting similar results. ;-)

I am so impressed with the results from this technique. I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the results!

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to use these yet ... Collage? Not sure I want to invest in a new printer with the dye inks. 1 page would use up a lot of ink with this kind of saturated color. I wonder how a monoprint direct to fabric might work? It also makes me wish I knew more about PhotoShop and Layers. I've already got some ideas ...


As a follow-up on the process, this is a picture of a hole the Citra Solv and ink ate into the pink foam board to which I had pinned the pages to dry. It also allowed the wet ink to run interesting streaks. Next time, I'll cover the foam with a blotting paper (or something).