Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Go Until You End

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. ~~~Lewis Carroll 

Even if you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere. That, in a nutshell,  is the story of this creation. The goal was to use Citra Solv on National Geographic magazine pages and transfer the magical images to fabric.



 There was a YouTube video which mentioned this possibility but there was never a followup. The procedure was to spray Citra Solv onto the magazine pages, turn them face down onto the fabric and then them cover with plastic wrap.

pages sprayed and put under plastic wrap


Now I know why there was never a followup video. It doesn't work and here is proof.

failed Citra Solv transfer

So the alternative was to scan the altered magazine pages, take them into Photoshop, manipulate them some more and then print the images on fabric. I was hoping to avoid all these time consuming steps.


printed fabric


So to tie this into our challenge, this was the beginning of a new technique and a plunge into the unknown with no preconceived notion of what the result would be. I looked at Paul Klee paintings for inspiration, but the resulting piece does not in anyway come close to the inspiration I had hoped to somehow emulate.






I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit. "No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."  -- Winnie the Pooh







8 comments:

  1. You get an A + for trying. I love the quote at the end ; )

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  2. Too bad your citra solve technique didn't work. There are a bunch of tutorials actually at the citrasolv website http://www.citrasolv.com/art/creative.html. But I do loooove your final product!!!

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  3. Oh, I love all those quotes from Alice- they just fit perfectly! I agree, you do get an A+ for effort- honestly, the only thing that jumps out at me for not working is lack of contrast in your values. Your piecing design looks really interesting!

    I have gotten Citrasolv to work, but I used text and bw photos that I prined out in my laser printer. I wonder if the slick paper they use for the magazine had something to do with your lack of success. Also, you have to burnish the paper fairly hard to get the image to transfer after your lay it on your fabric.

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  4. Oh I too really enjoyed your post with the intro and ending quotes, how fun! I have never tried Citrasolv and I thank you for trying it, I don't need to put it on my to-do list now. I do like your finished quilt with all the interesting textures.

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  5. I really love this one. even though it perhaps is not what you were looking for, it is great. the textures in the fabrics are gorgeous and the colours are beautiful. I, too especiallylove your quotes, alice and pooh are part of my beginning in life, too.

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  6. This may not have worked out the way you envisioned Judy, but I like the end result a lot. I took a closer look at your piece and it gave me the feeling of entering one of those mazes that are often found at a fair. You know the kind where you enter the "House of Glass" and begin to get lost and to find out that you end up at the beginning as the exit. I could look at this piece for hours. Thanks for sharing your experiment.

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  7. Your quilt somehow reminds me of ice sculptures I’ve seen which were illuminated by green and purple lights.
    I love Pooh’s quote! Love all the quotes!

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  8. Pooh just always has the absolutely right thing to say! Kudos for trying a new technique - too bad it didn't work out this time, but it was the starting point for a success.

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