This was the year of artsy Christmas presents.  I also followed my usual pattern of binge crafting- I hardly ever get anything done except during specified times when I can work for hours on end, usually because I have a deadline.  I don’t know why I constantly allow myself to work under this kind of pressure, but it is very motivating, I must say.

Each piece I made was an encaustic piece, and I was able to learn some new techniques as I worked with the wax.  The piece above includes some images stamped with india ink.  I simply brushed the ink onto my stamp, and applied it directly to the wax.  It’s obviously not very sharp- my wax surface was not smooth and the ink bubbled in places, but it work perfectly for the background I was trying to achieve.  All you need to do is let it dry and then you can add more layers of wax as you continue to work.
For this one, I used an image transfer technique.  I used charcoal to draw the tree on a piece of printer paper, then I laid it face down on the wax and rubbed every line until the tree was transferred completely.  The words were transferred the same way.  I printed them out first, this time on paper that was more transparent, because to get it to transfer the correct way I had to trace with pencil on the back of the paper, then rub it onto the wax.
I printed these words on rice paper and added it directly to my white square.  I used masking tape to create the straight lines and squares- it’s great since it doesn’t stick to the wax and comes right off.
Merry Christmas!

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