Adding Stamped Text Impressions to Encaustic Paintings

I love stamping in all of my art work.  Whether its’ a scrapbook layout, and art journal page, or an encaustic painting, stamping images and text among all the layers and elements is one of my favorite things to do.  When I stamp onto encaustic paintings, I am usually just adding some india ink to one of the layers.  I’ve done a few text impressions in my encaustic paintings, but in the past its’ always been a simple letter stamp that I press into the surface to get a good text impression.  I’ve tried to use smaller, and larger fonts and images to press into the wax, but its’ never worked before, and so I didn’t think it was possible.  Until now.

Text Impressions with Cling Stamps

I was working on a collage piece a couple weeks ago, and I honestly forget what I was originally going to do because this discovery took me in a completely different direction.

Usually when I’ve stamped on my encaustic pieces, I’ve used a mounted rubber stamp- a stamp that is mounted on a wood block.  These stamps are very rigid, obviously, and by a fluke, my favorite text stamps all just happen to be mounted.  That is, until I bought a typeset text cling stamp (a stamp that is peel and stick and can be mounted on an acrylic block to be used, and then removed from the block, or used without the block) from Creative Embellishments.  This stamp has become one of my favorites, and I’ve used it multiple times, but this was my first time using it in my encaustic work.

Most of the time when I’m stamping on my art, I’m not trying to get a perfect image transfer.  I’m going for a more abstract type of look, with random parts of the stamp popping out and a kind of blended look with the other parts that are not so clear.  Because of this, I didn’t bother mounting this one before I started stamping.  And because I didn’t wait until the wax was cool, I started getting these amazing impressions stamped into the wax, completely by accident!

Because the stamp is flexible, I can apply uneven pressure to the back with my fingers, pushing certain parts of the stamp deep into the wax, and other parts barely skimming the surface.  I believe this is the key to getting good text impressions in your encaustic paintings.  Mounted rubber stamps are just too rigid to be able to do this effectively.

Of course, the wax needs to be the right temperature.  Too hot, and you’ll make a huge mess, too cool, and the stamp won’t press into the wax.  But there’s a nice range of warmness in the wax where you’ll get a good impression.

Main Tips

So just to wrap up, here are the most important things to remember-

• Use a cling, or unmounted, stamp to do this.  It needs to be flexible to get good impressions.
• Make sure the wax is warm- not cool, but also not hot.
• Don’t try to fuse while the stamp is in the wax.
• You can add india ink to the stamp before you press into the wax if you wish- in these cubes, I’ve done it both ways.
• Let me know if you have any questions!