Rust Plus

Working in my sketchbook I have been playing around with the rusted pages adding stitch and wax.

I took photographs and manipulated these using Sketchbook Pro and Pro Create on the ipad.

Its easy fun to then change them further and print out to add to the sketchbook collection.

With a layer of wax,then, below, photographed and manipulated in Pro Create.

This was adapted for my group by using letter stamps, stencils and a wax stylus.
Thank you to Jennifer for the suggestion to try green tea,must put it on the shopping list.

Encaustic

A page from my sketchbook today; encaustic worked on handmade paper and then added to the sketchbook. There is a happy accident in the top right hand corner, after I had a nasty happening with discharge paste, which I mentioned previously, and had to repair this page by adding a scrap of material. I then discovered that by writing on tissue and then adding a layer of wax the writing looked as if it was on the material. I must come back to that idea.

I don’t know what your views are about Pin Interest, I know some people have really strong views against the use of their images on the site. I have not looked at it much until recently. I must say I was amazed at how many of my images have been pinned, of which I had no knowledge and not a comment made by the ‘pinner’.

The point is that I want to make a special mention of Eva Lundberg            who had the grace to email me and say that she liked my work and asked for my agreement for her to pin it. I was most impressed and have enjoyed looking at her pin board.

Dionne Swift, UK textile artist, is asking for anyone who has purchased a piece of her work to send her a photo of it in situ and she is putting them up on her site here. If you have not seen her work you may like to take a look.

Thank you to new followers and especially to those I have not been able to get back to.

Wax and Rust

There used to be four guinea fowl in the garden where I work. From a distance they are a very cute and characterful bird, following each other in line like hunched backed old men. Closer up they are really strange, wearing what looks like white masks. Now there are only two and at times they seem to be quite viscous to each other. Their black and white spotted feathers are beautifully patterned.

A group that I belong to have the theme of ‘birds’ this year and are working towards a group display of some kind. Now I have quite a phobia towards anything which flutters, but I have braced myself to collect a few feathers and am making an effort to accommodate the idea of our feathered friends as a theme.

This is a combination of rusted paper, with some branding with a wood burning tool and wax. I have bought some dharma crystals and following instructions on You Tube have made my own encaustic medium. The only difficult bit was straining the black bits out of the dharma. I found that only a very thin layer of material is needed for the filter otherwise the wax cools quickly and and seals the filter. I am using an Batik beeswax, which is actualy much yellower than the pictures show. I like the yellow tinge, but I know that I probably should use refined beeswax. I will not be adding pigment so perhaps it doesn't matter.

If you want to have a go here is the link to the video. I left my wax in the wax pot rather than making little ‘cakes’ as it is the only way I can melt the wax at the moment. I painted on the wax with a brush and then ironed it flattish. Making the medium is quite a smelly process, so you need to have good ventilation in case of fumes. Also stir the beeswax and dharma well; otherwise it tends to congeal at the bottom of the pot.

The January session of my course consisted of making a lino cut having made a pattern from a randomly selected postcard. The results were limited but I made a couple of birthday cards for my sons and a sort of pouch bag from the material I printed on the day. I can’t say I that I felt satisfied by the day, and didn’t feel I learned much or came away with any new ideas or inspiration. Perhaps it was just down to my mood?

Its just occured to me that the bird may swallow the spider; I hope not, I feel quite protective of my new pet.

Wax and more.

I just bought WaxWorks’ West DVD about Encaustic on Paper. A real impulse buy. The ladies give an awful lot of information, but I really had not thought it through, I was taken by the idea of wonderful waxed papers, and the emphasis is on encaustic, using lots of equipment I don’t currently own – though I could be seriously tempted. If you read this regularly you will know how fickle I can be. So a bit of a disappointment, which is not really to do with the DVD but my expectations. Anyway, it has encouraged me  to play with the wax pot again. I have decided that on the whole I prefer beeswax to soy wax, although the latter has great advantages when working with fabric and is environmentally good, but it does have an unpleasant smell; at least I think so

These are some papers I have worked on. My favourites are the coffee filter with holes and graphite powder, and the pattern on teabags using a batik tool.

Here is a link to some lovely work by patti of Missouri Bend Studio. I particularly like the beaded book page; I like the work so much that I am jealous that I didn’t make it. By the way she does have an etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio

Here is another link to some experimental knitting by' Wax and Wool' on ordinary objects such as bus tickets ,take away cups etc. which is fascinating. She has a new blog so drop by and leave a comment.
This is the very last chance to book for the course starting on November 3rd at the National Needlework Archive. If you are anywhere near come and join in; it’s a real bargain and hopefully lots of fun. I'm just about to go round the house taking down the mud cloth, kuba cloth etc. to use as our design inspiration.