Monday, December 1, 2014

An Encaustic Journey...

is where I have been traveling! Several months ago I began an online class with Shari Replogle called Metal and Encaustic Journal.  So. much. information.  I had to soak in it for a while before I jumped in and began creating. 



This is my cover. I made the book as a memorial to my mom who passed away several years ago.  In some ways that made it more difficult because I was trying to capture her from my memories.  But it was good to remember! And I found her diary and was able to incorporate some of the pages into the book. The cover is layers and layers of encaustic medium with collage and embedded items.

Pages 1 and 2 are created using different encaustic techniques. Page 1 is colored with oil pastels. The mustard seed is the pendant that she wore regularly.  Page 2 is colored with Pan Pastels and features part of an oil pastel that was hers. As I embedded it in the wax the pastel got on my brush and I accidently painted the orange onto the page. A happy accident for sure!  I added orange highlights around the page.  My favorite part is all that amazing texture!
"Page 3" is actually a little book.  Front and back are bound together with a little accordion book in between that are pages (copies) from my mom's diary.  They are covered in Ice Resin. (Thanks for the idea Shari!)

The inside of the cover isn't from the class so here's what I did - On the back of Ten Second Studios Apple Green art metal (metal painted a color on one side) I stamped Donna Downey's Poppies stamps (the outline) with Staz On ink. Placing the metal on an embossing pad (or mouse pad, something with a little give) trace the pattern with a stylus. Flip the metal over and a raised flower design should be staring at you :-)  The next step is to take a paper stump and refine the design - basically trace around both sides of the raised lines to define them.  The problem now is that the flowers are green. To fix that take a little metal brush & in a circular motion scrub off the green paint in the flower area; bits of aluminum will be peeking back at you now.  Using your finger and acrylic paint rub the color into the flower. Let it dry for just a bit then rub some off. The paint will catch in the nooks, crannies & scratches. To highlight the flower even more sand the embossed design.  I forgot to take pictures but hope to have a little video up soon.

Ice Resined diary pages



On the back of the book I coated the cover with green oil pastel, then painted clear gesso over it.  While it was wet I stamped into the gesso with a cool little wooden stamp from Donna Downey's store (which I don't see on her website). When the gesso was dry I highlighted the pattern with the salmon colored oil pastel and a bit of white pastel.  Using Archival ink I stamped a Donna Downey stamp to finish the back.

Thanks for visiting with me and if you want to take an Encaustic Journey, head over to Shari Replogle's page!

Debbie