The background here is another of my CitraSolv papers.  When I'm working with paper that's been altered with CitraSolv, I can savour the scent of oranges!

Here's my first picture done on a background made with CitraSolv.  I was so in love with the effect that I almost didn't want to draw on it, but I'm getting over that!  Can you see the words at the bottom of the page?  They look like some ancient undeciferable language that's carved in stone. So Cool!

CitraSolv is an all natural biodegradable cleaner and degreaser that has become well known in artist circles because of the magical effect it can have on magazines and because of it's image transfer abilities.  It can move ink on just about any magazine but on National Geographics it can cause a really amazing tranformation.  I've been googling around and read that it worked best on older National Geographics and also that it worked best on newer ones.  There seemed to be confusion over which magazines work best.  So here are the findings of my own experimentation with two National Geographics, one from 1994 and one from 1999. 
I followed the instructions in the Somerset Studio video and sprayed the pages of both magazines thoroughly.  I let them sit for an hour.  My garage was quite cold.  It's November here in Ontario and the temperature is not freezing but it's definitely coat weather!  After an hour, I squished them and goo came out the sides!  Then I got a box cutter and cut out the pages and laid them out to dry. 

I can see why there is a controversy over older or new magazines. 

This is the magazine from 1994.  The images in the pictures are still recognizable but they look aged;  almost like a strange lichen has grown over them.  Many of the images are quite striking and I'll definitely want to use them

This is what happened to the magazine from 1999.  This is the crazy psychedelic look I was hoping for.  The original images are unrecognizable and the ink has created marvelous patterns and bubble shapes.  The colors are the same as they, were so my undersea images are marvelous blue and greens.  I can't remember what this was, but it must have been mauve!

I also sprayed another glossy magazine.  If you are from Ontario, you'll be familiar with the Food and Drink magazine put out by the LCBO.  Unfortunetly the CitraSolv had no effect on it unless you rub the page and then the ink smears.
So there you have the results of my experiments!  I have a lot of great  paper now and I'll be using it in all kinds of ways so stay tuned!