Wax Lyrical at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, it's time for our next challenge at Stamps and Stencils and Sue is our lovely host....and we are playing with wax this month! Here in her own words is what she wants us to do.

' I have long been fascinated with the subject of Encaustic Art, melting wax to create many layers and trapping pieces of fibres and papers between the layers of melted wax just seems magical to me. So for this challenge I want to see some wax on your projects, whether it's just dribbled, melted and then stamped into or a wax embellishment as long as you include some stamping or stencilling the choice is yours !'

My first inspiration post at Stamps and Stencils was about wax and had some basic information you can refer to link here. This time I thought I'd try and explore wax on paper and the wonderful 'transparentizing' effect it can have. I thought this could be a good starting point without expensive supplies to tempt and inspire you to just dabble with your melt pot, a little beeswax and paper.

I made some eco leaf prints with autumn leaves last year which I hope to blog about it at some stage. I chose one of the pieces that I  thought could be enhanced with some stamping before coating with encaustic medium. Firstly I've added a lovely quote from one of  Alison Bomber's word plates.

Now some stamping to compliment what is already there.

When you first put the wax on it will sit on top. Fusing and another coat later it will start to sink into the paper. Normally you should have a solid heat resistant base such as wood or encaustic board; if I had made it on canvas it would sit on top and crack but handmade paper or good quality watercolour paper will absorb some of the wax and won't crack....unless you choose to crumple it up or fold it of course!

I've added a few drops of white encaustic medium. 

I also used a stencil and some gold leaf rubbed through it. If adding leaf metal or mica it must always be on the top layer if you want to keep the shine.

One of the things I love about encaustic are the depth of layers created and how the wax softens everything.

I'm hoping you can see the lovely sheen you get with encaustic when 'polished', I used a nylon pop sock to buff it.

The frame is painted with chalk fresco and a touch of treasure gold and moss green ink. I used a double sided tape sheet to stick the paper to the wooden frame back and chose not to use the glass that came with it.

There are lots of lovely and inspiring ideas from our DT of how to incorporate wax into your projects over on the blog. Hop across and checkout their posts and can't wait to see what you create!

Ruth x