Thursday 1 March 2018

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 Artmelting 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

9 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous, love the touches of gold and the wax is fabulous. Beautiful piece. Tracy ❤️

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  2. So very gorgeous, dear Ruth- I love your dyed paper, already before you add stamps and wax to it , but the extra leaf and the wax create magic, together with the leaf gold metal . So very beautiful in the frame , it is too-
    Warm hug from , a also very cold DK-
    Dorthe xoxo

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  3. Beautiful! Love that translucent look, and the addition of the gold leaf.

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  4. So gorgeous and very inspiring!

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  5. Truly beautiful Ruth ! Love the gold leaf through the stencil and the softness achieved by the wax layers is just gorgeous. Sue C x

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  6. Love , love, love the effect you achieved Ruth! Matchless creation!
    Lula xx

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  7. Absolutely brilliant! This is fabulous Ruth - I love all the wax but I think the hints of metal leaf are my fave bit! Hugs rachel xx

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  8. I am speechless. Stunning! And so inspirational. It's ages since I used wax in my artworks...time to do it again :-)

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  9. How beautiful. I'm strongly drawn to encaustic work for exactly the reasons you mention - the depth and softness - and I always prefer it in neutral tones. Your eco-print leaves look wonderful, especially with the subtle stamping enhancements, and of course I love the words! I've been using leaves on the Gelli plate, and it's been making me very happy.
    Alison x

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