Our meeting on 11 April 2026 was a fun whole–day workshop on using Lutradur led by Kathryn Knapp with assistance from Buffy Fieldhouse. Kathryn demonstrated how to create Lutradur lanterns and how to make delicate Lutradur leaves.
For the leaves, Kathryn brought Thermofax stencils, which we used to push ExpandIt through onto the Lutradur base. Then we hit the hot guns to make it puff up, and to burn lacey holes in the leaf. These were then painted and cut out. Some CTS members are going to use these to add to their lanterns, others to make wreaths or jewellery.
Some tips for the technique; clean off the Thermofax immediately or it will be ruined and return any unused Expandit to the pot (it’s expensive stuff and it shouldn’t dry out!).
For the cylinders, we firstly wrapped the Lutradur around a chosen base (eg a crisp tube or small plastic pot) to ensure that it fitted before starting our decorating. Those planning to add a light source to the middle (eg battery powered candles) were advised to make sure these fit inside too.
We painted our designs using watered-down acrylics, watercolours, fabric paint etc on the flat Lutradur. (Nb don’t use thick acrylic paint if you want light to shine through!). Then stitched into it, as creative inspiration flowed. Some stitched in cotton covered wires for additional structure.
