Citra Solv Paper Experiment
Is there something about summer that encourages experimentation?
I want to do so many things: slow stitching, spinning, marbling… I keep digging out more and more materials and ordering more books from the library. It’s exciting, but with this experimentation comes the high probability that what I try will not work out at all. This can be part of the fun but also so frustrating.
Last week, I watched a Reel on Instagram that showed an artist making Citra Solv collage papers in a vintage National Geographic magazine. Citra Solv is a natural cleaning product and someone figured out that you can use it to both clean your countertops and create altered magazine papers.
I picture an artist, flipping through a magazine looking for images with a forgotten bottle of cleaner in her hand. She finds the perfect picture, and in her excitement, accidentally squeezes the trigger and sprays the page. She’s so angry that she’s lost the image that she slams the magazine closed. Returning later, she finds the image transformed. The process really is that easy, but I’ve failed to do it correctly every time.
Inspired by the papers I saw, I decided to try again. I found a 1970’s National Geographic and filled a spray bottle with Citra Solv. I spritzed the pages and them sit for twenty minutes. The results were better than usual, but not stellar. I repeated the process and waited another twenty minutes. Out of the entire magazine, I ended up with ten pages that were slightly interesting. The rest either looked the same as when I started or were so lightly altered that I could still make out the original image.
Interesting, but not for me!
I choose a page and tried to create a collage, but didn’t like what was happening. The paper smelled very strong and had an odd texture. Perhaps I needed to wait longer before using the papers? I don’t know, but I wasn’t feeling inspired. I tried a layer of monoprinting on top of the image, but that didn’t help.
I’m not calling this a failure, just another project that I tried. Maybe the magazine wasn’t old enough or I didn’t spray enough of the concentrate. I should have waited longer, added more, or used a spray bottle with a different type of nozzle. No idea, but it’s time to move on because the magic isn’t happening for me.
Next up, well, it depends on if I can get my spinning wheel set up before the slow stitching books arrive. Or maybe I’ll come up with yet another idea!
Do you have a summer project list? Please share!