encaustic with mixed media
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Combining Encaustic with Mixed Media Scrapbooking Techniques

I've been a scrap booker since I was a teenager, and I began working with mixed media elements in my scrapbooks, art journals, and on canvases as an extension of that passion.  This was all long before I became an encaustic artist.  I've been wondering for a long time if there was a way I could replicate my favorite mixed media looks in an encaustic painting.
mixing shellac

Mixing Shellac Myself and Using it in my Shellac Burns

Dry shellac burns can be a harder than wet burns because the quality of the cells you get depends on how heavy your hand is and the size of the flame you use with your torch.  It can be really tricky to get the balance right.  I also learned recently that the concentration and age of your shellac also makes a HUGE difference.

Image Transfer on Encaustic

It seemed fine at the time, but looking back 10 years later, this collage is super boring and not very well made.  So, I decided to rework it and use an image transfer on encaustic technique to include the original letters without keeping the large, unwieldy pieces of paper.
experiments in encaustic- dry wall

Experiments in Encaustic- Dry Wall Compound and Ink

It took me about three months to talk myself into posting this video.  I had heard about people working with things like Venetian plaster in their encaustic paintings, but I've never tried to do anything like it before.  I'd been fixing a wall in my home, and decided some experiments in encaustic with the dry wall compound I had left over would be super fun.  I also decided to film the experiment, because I love when I can see artists try new things, even if they fail, and I managed to convince myself that others might find it helpful, as well.
text impressions in encaustic paintings

Adding Text Impressions into Encaustic Paintings

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!
shellac burn collage

Encaustic Cube Collage with Shellac Burn Effects

Creating an encaustic painting on a cube requires a bit more patience than a typical 2D painting.  I tend to try to work too fast most of the time, especially when I'm filming a video, and I found that to be more of a problem with this piece.  Luckily, encaustic is such a forgiving medium that no matter what happens, its' fixable.  All the extra drips and bare spots were not hard to redo, even with through the shellac.