Printing on Nat Geo/Citra Solv Papers

For this swap we're going to be creating our prints using National Geographic magazine pages that have been altered with Citra Solv. If you haven't tried this technique yet, I highly encourage you to give it a go. The Citra Solv breaks down the ink on the pages and yields wonderful results, and some very interesting papers that can be used in collage, mixed media, or for our purposes, monoprinting.

Here's a link to the tutorial on Citra Solv's website. I have read several times that this seems to only work with older Nat Geo magazines; anything from at least 1990 until present day may not work. In the tutorial I've linked to, the Citra Solv is applied to the pages straight from the bottle, but you can also use a foam brush or paintbrush if you wish. You'll want to be fairly generous with the amount of Citra Solv you use to get more dramatic results.

Once you've altered your Nat Geo pages and let them completely dry, use them as the printing surface for your Gelli/gelatin prints. By starting with such interesting papers to begin with, we should end up with some fantastic and wonderfully abstract prints.

The details:

• 3 prints each for 2 partners (6 prints total).
• Prints must be at least 6"x6", and can be round, rectangular, or square.
• Sender's choice in color, theme, and style.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. I've done this Citra Solv technique a few times and can hopefully give a bit of hands-on advice.

Thanks to @LahDeeDah for suggesting this great swap idea!

The swap graphic is one of my own Nat Geo/Citra Solv prints (prior to using on the Gelli plate).