Floating Flower

It is time for the next challenge at Stamps and Stencils and Sue is our hostess for this one.  She calls it Wax Lyrical and describes it this way:

I have long been fascinated with the subject of Encaustic Art, melting wax to create many layers and trapping pieces of fibres and papers between the layers of melted wax just seems magical to me. So for this challenge I want to see some wax on your projects, whether it's just dribbled, melted and then stamped into or a wax embellishment as long as you include some stamping or stenciling the choice is yours !

I really wanted to make an encaustic piece but when it came time to buy some supplies I discovered that Michaels doesn't carry anything and the two art supply stores that are close enough for me to drive to didn't have anything either.  I checked online but by the time I added the exchange rate and the obscene shipping cost, I realized it wasn't going to happen right now so I had to come up with plan B.

I decided to rekindle a technique I used a few months ago and colour a stamped image with crayons and not the way we did as children but rather by melting crayons onto the image.  Besides being easy, this is really inexpensive to achieve.

I started by using Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger) to stamp some flowers and leaf branches from the Fancy Florals set (Dylusions) onto scraps of white card stock (Staples).

Next I used a couple shades of green crayons and roughly coloured my stamped leaf branches.  The image was placed between two pieces of wax paper and ironed with a hot dry iron (no steam).  The heat did not melt the limited amount of wax so I shaved some of the wax onto my stamped leaf branch images using an X-Acto blade.  Tip:  An old pencil sharpener would work nicely or next time I might even try a cheap box grater.

The image with the shavings was placed between two pieces of waxed paper and ironed again and this time there was great movement of melted wax.  You might want to put an old tea towel beneath your work if you are worried about wax getting onto your ironing board.  I didn't bother because I had used extra large pieces of waxed paper and my craft mat.  If the melted wax doesn't cover your image or you want to add an extra colour, just add more wax shavings and heat again - this time I added some yellow.

Once the coloured image is dry and cold, fussy cut and set aside.  Repeat the process by colouring the flowers - this time I used shades of pink and purple crayons.

I added some dots to the flowers with a white gel pen (Sakura).

This photo shows the back of the flower and you can see how waxy the card stock becomes - both from the wax in the crayon but also from the wax lifting off the waxed paper.

Next it was time to create the background canvas.  I started by adding some Light Molding Paste (Golden) through a Bubbles stencil (Tim Holtz) in random spots around the outside of a canvas board (Artist's Loft).  Once the stenciling was dry I gave it a coat of white Gesso (Liquitex).

Next I used a sponge to add some layers of paint starting with Blush Fresco Finish (Paper Artsy), followed by Candy Floss Fresco Finish, then Concord Grape Acrylic Paint (Apple Barrel) and finishing with a bit of white Gesso (Indigo Blu).

Some stamping with Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger) and a couple of stamps from the Faded Fragments set (Seth Apter) came next.  Although you can't see it in the photo, I also added some circles of black and white paint with the lid from a little spray bottle.  They were too predominant so I sponged a bit more Concord Grape over them to tone them down.

I added more stenciling with some Course Pumice Gel (Golden) through a Mini Bricks stencil (TCW).

Then came the part I wish I hadn't done - I used a stipple brush to add some Pure Black, Dove Gray and Sterling Silver acrylic paint (Folk Art) to the bricks.  I don't like them now because I think they are too dark now but I decided anything more would have made them look worse so I left them alone.

I hope you will join us for this challenge and show us your waxy creations.