Create Exciting Collage Papers By Dissolving National Geographic Pages

Join me in the studio as I show you how to dissolve National Geographic pages with Citra Solv. This fascinating and experimental process creates beautiful collage papers for you to use in your art projects.

Sunday in the studio #2

The National Geographic magazine is world renown for luminous photos and interesting articles. The magazine was founded in 1888, to give the armchair traveller access to information and pictures on history, science, geography and world culture. After you have finished reading the intriguing stories, there are plenty of ways you can turn your magazine into great art.

Here is the most fun, exciting and completely intriguing way to create art with your National Geographic magazines.

By dissolving the ink to create interesting patterns.

Using an organic cleaning product called Citra Solv, the ink on the pages of the National Geographic magazine can be dissolved to create unique and inspiring papers that can be used in a variety of mixed media projects.

What you will need — A National Geographic magazine, Citra Solv, spray bottle, paper towels and plenty of space.

The highly-pigmented ink, printed on the clay-coated pages, creates fascinating textures and organic patterns. The Citra Solv can be sprayed or brushed onto each page. The magazine is then left to soak for about 20 minutes, as the product dissolves the ink from the images and the text.

Next, pull out the pages and separate each one. As you do this, the dissolved ink runs and pools, leaving muted patterns and half processed images. As the pages dry, you will see the patterns emerge, and the colours lighten. It is quite a unique process, and each page will have a different result.

What to expect — It is quite a messy procedure, so make sure you wear gloves and work in a well-ventilated area. If you use the whole magazine, you will need a large area for drying the pages.

Things to avoid — I have tried using a variety of different products, and Citra Solve has the best result. If you live in the USA, you can buy this product easily, but outside America is it a lot harder to find. The last time I created a batch of pages, I was a bit heavy-handed with my application of the solvent and more of the ink dissolved than I would have liked. It is a highly experimental process, which is the fun part, so be prepared for any result.

What to make — Once you have a few pages that you like, you can use them to add texture to collage artworks. Sometimes the half dissolved images can make great pictures

Here are two of my favourite collage artworks using the dissolved Nat Geo Pages.
Boarding Pass & With Dignity, mixed media collage, 41 x 31cm, on canvas.

The process is highly experimental. The result of the pages will depend on the amount of Citra Sold you use, the length of time dissolving, the images of the magazine, and even the temperature on the day. Sometimes the results is absolutely amazing, but sometimes it doesn’t work as great as you would have liked. But don’t get discouraged, just get another magazine and try again! You can fine them very cheap in the thrift stores or op shops.

Sometimes it can be challenging acquiring the Citra Solve outside of the US, so if you are having trouble but would like some of this paper for your artworks, I have included a few of my favourite pages in the link below. Add your email and my digital collage papers will be sent your inbox. You can print them out and use them in your art journals, collage work or any other creative application.

I wish you every success with your creative adventures,
Keep making art! Cheers Froyle