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!
Your tone and enthusiasm really shows in your writing. Great post!