it's been a misty mizzly week in Mousehole with not much colour to cheer
and I've been stuck indoors all week with a really bad cold
so it was good to get out today for a short walk
and discover some beautiful blues and rusts
and they do say that, sometimes, you just have to create your own sunshine
or really search for those bright colours that cheer ...
this week I enjoyed working with a bit more colour in my
faux encaustic samples for The Surface Treatment Workshop
for a long time now I have loved using wax in my textile work and collages
and have playfully experimented with it for over 10 years now
dipping papers, photos and fabrics in wax or applying it to collages and canvases
and I just love the look and feel of a waxy texture
every now and again I have sessions where I wax papers and fabrics
so they are translucent, fragile and ready to use in a textile piece
so I was looking forward to having a play with the faux encaustic technique
using gel mediums, acrylics and inks
below you can see how the mixture in my palette looks quite waxy
it's a pourable recipe of Golden gel medium,
turquoise acrylic ink and green acrylic paint
this technique is all in the layering up of encaustic recipe, papers and embedded objects
several ... three ... four ... five layers ...
the thicker the medium the more waxy it looks
I used an old vintage black and white photo, one of my St. Ives photos
lots of text, pre-rusted tissue papers, corrugated card and sewing paper![]()
I also used some wax from some ceramic tiles and some of my waxed papers
smothered in really thick gel medium and there are several layers on these collages
but it was quite hard to photograph the actual waxy texture
it does look sort of waxy?
what I do like about the gel medium is that
being translucent all of the layers can clearly be seen
still, after all that, I wasn't sure I liked the matt finish
so I used a glaze on top which enhanced all the colours and layers
then, I felt that some of these little collages would benefit
from adding some textile layers and stitch
I added some of my melted and textured textiles ... ready for little stitches
and flowers and leaves pressed from my garden embedded in the faux encaustic
this is a collage I layered up ...
which I then cut into four pieces ...
you can see I've pinned on some blue silk and a little cottage ...
I will have these finished up in no time and show in my Sunday snippets post
my conclusion is that this technique has a lot of potential
and it's good to get the process under my belt ... but
I probably do prefer the proper encaustic look of using coloured wax
and will experiment more with that at a later stage
if you would like to know more about these surface techniques and products
you can find them in the book "The Surface Treatment Workshop"
by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson
and Evelyn's gorgeous samples are here if you would like to see ♥