August 2017 StencilGirl Voices Project 2 - Lutradur Lacing Snippet Tutorial

 

Hi Everybody.  Today I want to share with you the technique that I used create the blue laced Lutradur element in my  StencilGirl Voices Textile Collage.  The collage, featuring the August 2017  StencilClub Set, Second Star on the Right and Straight on 'til Morning StencilClub collection designed by Mary C. Nasser, is hand stitched onto a linen page in my new Dina Wakely Mixed Media journal.  

If you haven't heard about Lutradur before, you're not alone. I recently discovered it while poking around the Artistic Artifacts website where I found an overview in a Liz Kettle YouTube Video.   Lutradur is a man made material marketed as "A Versatile Cross Between Fabric and Paper."  It's a pretty cool non woven stabilizer that in its unaltered form can be found lining the bottom of couches and covering up boxsprings.  You can print on it, paint it, stamp on it, stitch on it, burn it with a woodturning tool, and even run it through a die cut machine. It comes in 20 gram, 70 gram, and 100 gram weights and is sold by the yard or in prepackaged sheets that make it easy to run through your ink jet printer.  (I purchased mine online from Artistic Artifacts.) When I saw the magic that Liz made happen with her heat gun I knew then and there that I needed to use my bad boy VT-1100 on it and see the results for myself.

 

I used a 8½" X 11"100 gram sheet for the blue laced element in my textile collage.  Before lacing, I misted the Lutradur with water to help the paint go on smoother and then painted it with a wash of watered down acrylic paint.  (If you try this make sure that you have a piece of paper under the Lutradur when you apply the paint since the paint will seep through.  I also recommend letting the Lutradur air dry if you've never worked with it before as it's really easy to inadvertently lace it while drying it with a heat gun.)

 

I hope I've inspired you to add some Lutradur to your art supply stash. If so, don't forget to share what you make!

Toddles, Jill