Citrasolv and National Geographic Magazines Make Cool Melty Ink Art Pages · Craftwhack

There is a technique of 'melting' the ink on National Geographic magazines with Citrasolv that has been big in the fine art journaling customs for a while, and then I wanted to attempt my hand at information technology. I knew I would get some cool effects, but I didn't realize how obsessed I would go with this.

The original technique has you spraying Citrasolv concentrate (a natural, orange-smelly cleaner) on all the pages of a National Geographic magazine, and ripping the pages out afterwards the ink has 'melted' somewhat.

Here's how you do that, and a whole bunch of tips at the end on how to brand certain you lot get successful Citrasolv/Nat Geo pages, because I need you to attempt this. Seriously. Do it. (Information technology's equally fun every bit making Gelli Prints.)

National Geographic Citrasolv Technique

Supplies

National Geographic magazines (I've heard you get different results from using different decades of magazines. Mine were from 2011.)

Citrasolv concentrate – Make sure yous purchase the concentrate or it won't work! Also, I used almost an entire 8 oz bottle on one mag, and then become for a larger size

Large goulash dish or tray to contain the mess while/after you spray the magazine

Spray canteen

Big curl of paper or even flattened cardboard, or clips and laundry line to dry your pages

Optional:

Spray fixative

Gloves

Rubbing alcohol, textures, stencils, inks, gesso

Bonus: Incidentally, I have started using Citrasolv as a cleaner in my house, too. It smells orangey-succulent and works beautifully for so many cleaning purposes. Plus it'due south natural, and so pets and kids are safe. When does this ever happen with fine art supplies?!

Directions

Spray your pages with Citrasolv in the spray bottle all over the pages of the magazine while they're still intact.
Close up your magazine and let information technology steep for about xv-twenty minutes before y'all peek.
Cheque on it every few minutes until the ink looks runny and cool.
Tear out each page from the magazine and lay it flat to dry. They tear out really easily.
Optional: spray the pages with fixative to prepare the ink.
Practise with them what you lot volition. (Hint: Look down three paragraphs.)

Okay, this is my version of showing yous family unit vacation photos for hours. I tin can't help it. And then many of these turned out Cute. Funnily, some pages did nothing, and some changed at different rates, so you can see a few recognizable images in some of the pages, while others are pure abstruse gorgeousness.

Correct??? Aren't you prepare to starting time this business?

Where to Discover Old National Geographics

Thrift stores, garage sales, eBay, or neighborhood message boards. I got mine from posting in my neighborhood message board that I was looking for some. A woman responded and said she had some she didn't want anymore. She left them on her porch in a cute little handbag and I never had to make homo contact. #introvertwin Otherwise, they're $13 a magazine.

Where to purchase Citrasolv

This is a big hurting in the butt to find out in the stores, and so I purchase mine from Amazon. The price is obviously improve if y'all purchase a larger bottle, and remember, you tin can use it for cleaning your business firm if yous don't utilise the whole bottle. What other fine art supply can practice that?!

What to exercise With Your Citrasolv Magazine Pages

This is my favorite thing to do: brainstorm ideas. Yous can obviously keep your pages as is and hang them all over your walls. Or here are some more than ideas:

Collage with them
Cutting them up and weave them together
Depict on them
Paint on them, using the melty page as a background
Utilise gesso to paint over a stencil on them and so you get a cool matte white design to contrast with the ink.
Make a handmade artist'due south book and use them as the covers
Fold them into boxes or origami sorta things
Sew some together with embroidery thread to make cool sculptural fine art
Frame some with photos mounted on them to apply as pretty backgrounds
Scan your favorites to use in digital art projects

More Tips:

As with whatsoever art technique, I advise making a batch of direct-up pages to become familiar with the technique before you lot get crazy experimenting. But if you're a total rebel badass, swoop correct on into the pages and experiment whenever you want to.

Although the aroma is wonderful, since it's a concentrate, it's stiff, then I propose still working in a ventilated area if yous're sensitive to smells. (Retrieve about pets and kids, too.)

I've heard that Vogue magazine and the New York Times magazine works besides. They use the same clay-based ink that Nat Geos do. I've used Vogue for acrylic gel medium transfers, so at present I want to endeavour that with Nat Geo.

Really, if you lot similar this technique, you'll accept fun with this acrylic gel medium transfer project, or even acrylic pigment skins.

Spray the dry out pages with a fixative if you will be using them in collages or other artwork, so the ink doesn't smudge.

Lay out more paper for drying than you think you might need. If you do a lot of pages (and you'll want to), you need a ton of room for drying. I used giant cardboard boxes cut apartment.

Spray a lot of pages! Every bit this is a process that relies a lot on luck, some of the pages will turn out swell, and some will merely suck. You want a bunch of options to choose from.

With that said, you don't have to spray the entire magazine at one time- endeavor a few pages at first if you don't accept a ton of space. I sprayed the front half of the mag, and the back half started to soak upward the Citrasolv as it saturday in the casserole dish. I went through and sprayed the dorsum pages nearly 20 minutes in, so I got some varied furnishings on some of these pages.

I'yard not certain if CitraSolv is bachelor exterior of the U.S. yet. If you lot live elsewhere, you might want to experiment with turpentine or odorless turpentine. Obviously in a well-ventilated area!

Experiment with how long you lot leave the pages brewing, sometimes too long is not every bit skilful, and some pages might dry together. I found some rogue pages stuck together afterward and pried them apart, which was a fun surprise.

You tin can play around with the pages while they are even so wet by stamping textures or stamps into the ink, using tools to move the ink around on the page, or anything else you lot tin can think of with your creative brain.

If you find your pages are all too uniform and dark, try repeating the whole process on a few pages or rubbing some of the ink off with a paper towel while it's still moisture.

I could become on and on…. accept fun!

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