I love making mixed media art but sometimes I start to feel like I’m simply repeating the same techniques over and over again. It begins to feel a bit stale and I sometimes look over my work thinking that it has all pretty much begun to look the same. So, when I first saw Lutradur being used, I was more than intrigued. What is Lutradur? It’s a nonwoven polyester material that’s sort of a cross between fabric and paper. It’s tear resistant and won’t fray. Just the description of the product peaked my interest but Lesley Riley’s book Fabulous Fabric Art with Lutradur really set it into overdrive.
Riley provides you with all that you need to know about colouring Lutradur using paints, inks, oil pastels, crayons, and dyes. She moves into teaching techniques such as stencilling, stamping, printing, and transferring. Then, things get really exciting when she shows you how to stitch, burn, emboss, needle felt, and foil with it. Riley even includes a very helpful chart in the book that outlines how Lutradur responds with various common adhesives and when being adhered to other types of materials.
Autumn Field by Lesley Riley
In all, there are 27 techniques to add texture, dimension, and interest to a wide variety of art projects. Finally, Riley is joined by other artists such as Claudine Hellmuth, Jenn Mason, and others to present 14 different projects giving you the opportunity to try out these techniques ranging from baby’s blocks to collages to scrapbooks to art quilts.
Above is my first project done with Lutradur – a flower used as an adornment but that would make a lovely brooch or other piece of jewelry. I can’t wait to try out other techniques and projects and Riley’s book will give me the information I need to get started!
Lisa Fulmer says
nice review Cyn, thanks so much – looking forward to seeing what all you do with Lutradur, that flower is super cute!