Encaustic Crackle Class

Is all set to begin. I just watched the first lesson on using blow torches!

Arrroooo! love those flame throwers! I've been using a tiny little 'penlite' soldering iron. While it's been great for little pieces, it's very frustrating on bigger stuff. However, hiding in the garage is a mid-sized gas torch, similar to the brand recommended by Linda, that I bought a number of years ago, but had forgotten about, until hubby mentioned it.

I've got my pearl-ex pigments ($nz40 for set of 12), an electric grill ($50 second hand) (you can't get pancake griddles in NZ - they just look at you blankly in the stores.) I have a couple of white pine pallets from the US, with 7"/18cm wide planks, which I'll dismember, saw up and sand for boards. (And no, so far, no supplier of 'proper' encaustic boards in EnZed.)

So, all ready to go (ish). But no time to do it:
Tuesday - it's already 2030
Wednesday - High School Enrollment Interview, Small group bible study
Thursday - Lecture in the morning, Youth Group/organise posters and stuff for the church gala on Saturday in the evening
Friday - oooh, there's a possibility ...
Saturday - church Gala from 0700 ... sleep in the afternoon, housework
Sunday - church, visit mother, sleep, walk dogs
Work during the daytime, study for Lecture and Essay.

Then, suddenly, it'll be Monday again.

Under a Blue Moon

Encaustic on MDF with controlled shellac burn and image transfer.

Not sure if this is done or not. I want to add a bit more glitz to the moon, but that will have to wait till my Pearl-ex pigments arrive.

A River Runs Thru

Encaustic piece inspired by Linda Womack's Encaustic workshop.

Cork-backed placemat, with tannin dyed fabric, text on tissue and 80gsm paper, dried leaf, 'gold' flake, and, of course, wax.

My original thought was to have a text-based image, but then it just went off on a strange tangent. Some of the colours I have are working out well, and others are just 'blah'. These colours were from the beeswax crayons I bought. The yellow is good, the red is good. But the blue is too anaemic (too much extra wax in the mix?).

Anyway, home early today, so maybe I can have another go.