On the 1st of April I travelled down to Wellington to attend an Encaustic Wax painting workshop at The Learning Connexion. I was very excited to be doing this as I had been wanting to do the workshop for some time but it hadn't worked out due to other constraints. As it was a long weekend being Easter, the workshop ran from Tuesday to Friday. Marci explained there were a lot of techniques to be covered and she'd demonstrated two or three each day for us to try.
(Click on the image to enlarge)
The first day of the workhop we learned what "encaustic wax"was, the materials used and why those particular waxes. We each had our own workstations with a electric griddle and board to work on. After the heating the wax, Marci showed us how to apply the wax to our supports, fusing in between each coat after the first four applications. Then she showed us how to add pigment using small containers. She had a bagful of the little "Dine" cat tins (cleaned, of course) that she collected thanks to her very fussy cate who would only eat Dine but she found they worked really well for individual colour pot size-wise but also had some old muffin tins as well. Marci also discussed what sort of pigments could and couldn't be used and why that was. They need to be oil based not water based to to be compatible the wax medium.
Our first activity was to simply "add colour" by mixing small amounts of pigment with small amounts of wax using the individual containers or tins. In between the wax was "fused" using a hand held propane torch or a heat gun. I found the later gave less intense heat therefore giving more control on how quickly the wax melted.
I started the first day with lots of enthusiasm and very quickly realised I had NO control over the outcomes! What I did really like, that surprised me was the effects shellac had on the wax, both fused and unfused. Thus I decided to purchase some from the materials shop, along with some Microcrystalline wax to take home with me.
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Above: Encaustic wax with a mixture of pigments,
gold leaf and fused shellac on a hardboard support.
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My second experimentation was applying the pigments thickly at one end and then, supported on an angle, fusing the wax with the preconceived idea they would 'run' - they kinda of did, but didn't! (still learning how this whole wax-thing works!!) I liked the effect so I set it aside to look at it periodically to admire and decide if I was going to risk messing with it :o)
On the final day, Marci demonstrated collaging and image transfers. I attempted the latter but stuffed up by fusing it so I had to peel it off and start again. Unfortunately the music score had very little ink to cling so it didn't transfer very well. I was disappointed about that.
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| Above: Encaustic wax medium with image transfer |
On this block I've play around with scoring the wax, first with the prongs of a fork (then fusing) and then with a awl or something similar. This time I was careful with my fusing as I wanted the leave some of the engraved lines intact.
Finally, I applied an application of shellac, lighty fusing it to create interesting patterns and textures but not too much so I didn't lose the lines I'd just scored into the wax.
I was also keen to experiment with plant materials and encaustic wax. During lunch break on one of my walks around campus I collected a few leaves etc and tried to be open to whatever happened in my creative use of them. My first few attempts were happy accidents but I also had some of the (thin) leaves curl when I wanted them to "stick" and leave an impression.
Again, I'm REALLY liking the use of shellac as it gives such a nice rich glossy texture.
My Big Experimental 3D FAILURE...
Then I had a real BIG fail! I was getting annoyed with my inability in producing a preconceived expectation (I think it was only after the first day lol!) Marci suggested I try using a 3D surface as a change like a rock. So I went found one, applied some wax, some leaves, some more wax and went outside to fuse it. Well, the lant materials caught a light and burned away until this was just a big black blob *sigh* I stared at it for a while, quite a long while and then thought: oh well, I just some things "just burn" and surprised myself, by being ok about the outcome!
Photo inspiration "Evening Sunset"
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| Above: Encaustic wax medium, colour pigments, pink dye, black permanent marker, unfused shellac |
On the final day Marci demonstrated use of collage and photo transfer with encaustic wax medium.
This is an area I'm very interested in exploring further and though my image transfer wasn't 100% successful I a happy with the outcome of the collaging with printed mulberry.
Encaustic Wax Workshop 24 hours
Photo editing/blogging 8 hours
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