I was sitting in a class on Lutrador with Leslie Riley and thought this is bark.

Supplies

• Paints: Transparent, Opaque, and Metallic (Seta-Color, Lumiere by Jacquard, Stewart Gill and Golden all work well.
• Foam brushes
• Water
• Plastic to cover workspace
• Yarn, Thread, Heat Gun
• Sewing machine
• Piece of fabric for under the Lutrador 14"x14"
• Lutrador 13"x13"
• Peltex II or other stiff interfacing

Lutrador is a woven product made by Pellon and is used for many consumer products i.e. cover on the bottom of your box springs, roofing material etc. It does not burn but melts away. Place plastic and a piece of fabric on your work table — the fabric will produce a secondary piece — this fiber is very porous.

1. Place the white piece of Lutrador on the fabric and with foam brush paint with water — the water causes the paint to migrate — when wet, paint different colors on the Lutrador — you can blend color by adding more water on the foam brush and blending the edges. Paint until you are happy with the colors.

2. Remove the fiber from the fabric and lay on plastic or hang up to dry. (If you use paper towels under the fiber be sure and remove to dry as the towel will pull the color out of the Lutrador. If it is very wet the color will travel when hung. I used Seta Color Transparent paints, Lumiere Metallic and a bit of black from Stewart Gill. After the fiber was dry I sprayed it with Glitter Spray and let it dry overnight.

3. Using the heat gun I put holes in the fiber — then couched yarn to the piece and stitched between the yarns to give the effect of knots in the tree. When using the heat gun — preheat — then keeping the point about 2" above heat the Lutrador — it takes a little longer for the heat to penetrate the paint — then use a pulsing motion to control the burning of the holes, BE careful it will melt quickly when heated. If it bows turn it over and heat the other side. When using the heat gun do this in a ventilated area — it produces a slight smell which may affect people with allergies or chest issues.

4. I then covered the peltex and wrapped it around so that it became the back of the post card. Stitched everything down to secure. Stitching around the card works well with the Lutrador you may also want to paint the edge to seal it.

5. Finished postcards and Cloth from under the painting.