Try It Out Thursday : More Mixed Media

I thought I'd show you a different way of using lutradur in an altered book; this time, I'm using it to frame an existing image, a postcard I'd made using acrylic wax as a resist, and brusho sprays.   I added the image to the book in the right place, and stuck it down using double sided tape.  I decided to use the same method to stick the lutradur down, as you can see from the picture below of the tape before its backing paper was removed.  As you can see, I added it on three sides, but with hindsight, I should have added it at the top, too, and advise you to do so if you try this (and .  It is, of course, transparent; you won't be able to see it through the lutradur.

Then, I cut a sheet of Lutradur 70 to fit the page, and stuck it down using the double sided tape.  I decided that this would be a 'frame', so I then burned out the centre of the lutradur.  I knew that the glue would slow down the burning, so I could start from the centre, and work out the way; when I got to the point of the glue, I would be able to stop there.  Of course, that only works if you put glue on all four sides, right?  I ended up burning through the lutradur at the top left of the image.  To rectify it, I took a section of the burned out lutradur and covered up the gap... so you can see why I'm advising you do what I say, not exactly what I did!  Of course, the other option would be to treat the lutradur like mount board, and cut out a viewing rectangle slightly smaller than the size of the image, and stick it on in the same way.  That would give you nice clean lines around the edges.

Now for some colour on the 'frame', though it could have been left white.  I did consider silver, but didn't think the image looked particularly wintry, so  I started by painting the lutradur with light gold acrylic paint. 
When that dryed, I rubbed some teal blue Markal stick over it in some places.  I then decided to add some traces of dark brown, just to give a stronger contrast between the image and the edges; this time, though, I added the Markal stick to a piece of scrap lutradur and dabbed it on.  Don't scrub at the lutradur; if you do, you are likely to make the surface fuzzy.  Of course, if that's what you're aiming for, be my guest!

So, the final touch was to run a black watercolour crayon round the edges of the page, just to help give a little definition to it.  And there we are, another completed page in my altered book!

Photo Friday : Circles I

Today's image comes from the amazing Dale Rollerson.  You can find her blog, and more of her work,
  here.  She works a lot with spun bonded fabrics; this piece is Evolon.  She says of this particular piece;' I have monoprinted with the Gelli plate using acrylic paint and stencils – Evolon takes colour so well. I plan to stitch on it before too long'  I'm hoping she'll send me a follow up image when she has stitched this incredibly richly coloured piece, and keep us appraised of the progress of the series. 

So there I was thinking, what's a Gelli plate?  I'd never heard of them, so had a look at their website .  They make a gel printing plate that looks like gelatine, but is reusable.  It sounds fab...want one...but until one of us has a paying job, I'll settle for gelatine printing, as I have several packets of gelatine in the kitchen cupboard.   I found a video on U Tube showing how it's done; please note that the video is the copyright of the original artist, and has nothing to do with Spunbond Sensations!.

Many thanks to Dale for sharing this with us; if you have work at any stage of development that you want to share with us, please contact me here