Thursday 17 May 2012

Never has ironing been so much fun

Painting with an iron = encaustic art.  My friend and I attended an encaustic art workshop on May 11th  at the beautiful Alston Hall and what a very jolly day we had.

Encaustic art is art which is made by melting wax and using it as a pigment medium. The result is a rich, vibrant, textural work of art which can be endlessly manipulated with an assortment of tools. The art form is actually thousands of years old, several museums and art galleries have examples of encaustic art from places like Ancient Egypt and medieval Europe.

The waxes used in encaustic art vary. Beeswax is the classic medium, although other types of wax can be used as well. Most encaustic artists use blocks of wax which have already been dyed.  The melted wax is daubed onto a sturdy backing and then spread as desired. It can be manipulated just like ordinary paint with the assistance of brushes and other tools, or it can be allowed to cool so that the wax can be carved.
You can also transfer your designs onto fabric such as calico and cotton and work in beads and stitch.

I transferred a design from card onto fabric - picture quality not that great.

My friend Morag using a heat gun to create texture on fabric
The Blue Tree - created with wax and an iron - amazing!

3 comments:

  1. I love making encaustic art. The pics you show are terrific for a first go, where will you go next! Usually people start with the landscapes. I like experimenting with abstract designs - and with trying to transfer them onto other papers/fabrics. Will watch out for your work

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have looked for you on Facebook but can't find. Check out the only encaustic image I have posted on my blog. http://jezartjournal.blogspot.com an older April post. Thanks for comment on my latest post, nice to have another English blogger.

    ReplyDelete