Encaustics & Collage
Posted on December 5th, 2009
The snow has begun in Buffalo which means I am freezing and need my warm cozy studio to hole up in. I went to a workshop on encaustics this past summer and loved it. My schedule has not allowed me to do any work with it up until now. This picture featured is a beginning done yesterday. I plan on adding more to this image but think it is working fairly well for one day as a base for the work. My goal is to be able to take the encaustic pieces I create and incorporate it into many other collage elements, attaching them with acrylic gel medium in the end. This piece started with some vegetable made paper. Idipped it in the wax then added other pieces of paper and type to it right on my hot plate. I have to take it slow so as not to burn myself and plan on working on this process till I can do it in my sleep. The most important thing I have found so far is having your griddle at 200 degrees at all times. This keeps the wax flexible enough to work with and apply. The hot gun is also a tool to get used to. Yesterday I set the collage on fire at a few points being too close fusing things together. I will show also starting Monday on my blog my process on this piece and work on a few more images getting use to the tools and wax. Any tips out there from artists working with wax I would greatly appreciate too.
You go girl! This is fascinating!!!! patti
and the letters on the CAPTCHA phrase don’t work….if this goes through it is because I listened to it and it was completely different from what I saw!!!
Joyce I followed you here form Tracy’s site. this is the best mixed media work I’ve seen. I love the textures, compositions, and colors you get. Your opening slide show is very nice. I love every one of them. I don’t know much about encaustics, but it seems you might get a similar look with matt or semi gloss acrylic mediums and gells?
Yes thank you Peter! You are right about the acrylic gels and mediums which I do use now. However this past summer I took an encaustics workshop and learned a lot about using wax and collage. The effects you get with gel are great but with encaustics you get a slightly different result. There is a beauty to the object or collage encased in the wax that has a different quality. I am especially interested in the use with japanese rice papers. I am going to write a blog about this tomorrow and maybe you will get a feel for what my goal is with this medium. I hope you keep reading my blog and progress in adding this method with my m/m work.
You’re good. Your new work is gorgeous! Can’t wait til we get together in Feb. some time.
Dear Joyce,
I found you thru Randal Plowman. I am very interested in collage. I live in the Netherlands in the country where workshops are few if any.
The Dec. 29th post says working with acrylic gels and mediums and comparing this to encaustics. Do you mean a top coat of a gel like a top coat of wax on top of paper?
Also, do you use a foam base instead of an adhesive for your papers?
What is this product and where do you buy it?
Thank you,
Leslie
Leslie, Hi again. Answers to your questions are…I use acrylic gel mediums for gluing my collage elements to my paper and foam core. I also, after the work is finished, adding a top clear coat of gel medium gloss to give a finished look to all the papers and objects in my composition. It is a great product in general and archival also unlike regular glue which will yellow. I use foam core on board glued then watercolor paper on top of the foam core. I can carve out the foam core if I choose but still have a watercolor paper to paint on as a surface. If you have not seen Randels Plowman’s book, which I am in, called Masters/Collage I would check it out. There are forty artists in it with different styles of collage. Amazon or Barnes & Noble is carrying the book. Good luck with your work!