I am packing my bags and getting ready to head out of town for a couple of months. South of the border from San Diego in a town called Rosarito. After 5 weeks here we are not sure which way we will go next but we will be checking the weather back home to see if we need to stay away longer.
I will try my best to bring you interesting ideas for your wax designs. Remember that my catalog pages will go down while we are on the road and I will bring them back on our return.I will take some supplies with me to fill some orders if I can find a place to mail them when possible.
Try some Sumi
I have mentioned this process before but let us take another look at painting with wax pads. These pads are two sheets of Kleenex that have had wax melted into them in different color combination's. I like the Green, Brown and Black combos for mountains and rocks. You lay the pads over your card stock and press with the iron to push the wax through the tissue leaving a surface that looks very rock like. It also has the look of Sumi ink painting with a nice Asian feel. I even use a chop to mark them to give that added flair. You can get these online and have your own name carved into the stone. Get the soft red wax that is used for stamping from the same vendor. Remember after the wax image is finished you take your finger and smear the wax in areas to give it that Sumi ink look. If you have to heat the pad underneath with your iron and place the card back on that warm area to heat up the wax so it will smear it is a good trick when the wax cools too fast.
Here are a few pictures using this process.
If you change the colors an add some blue you can get rocks that are close to the waters edgeand work well with a composition of rocks in a pond. Remember to use a cover card when you do this to protect the rest of the card and to give a nice straight edge to the bottom of the rocks. Then with a wipe of your finger you will have a water effect under the rocks. In the above images you can see where I used my finger to smudge and give a blurred effect.
I have mentioned using photographs and here is one that was printed on my Inkjet using regular printer paper. I dipped the back side of the paper into clear wax puddled on a pancake griddle and then did the sky and water on the back side as well as the front side to get the look I wanted, then I used the stylus to fill in the rest of the image... This is the ferry that docks here in Edmonds and is always a wonderful sight to see.
I was painting in the gallery on my shift so here are a few of these A6 sizes to share with you that I did while on duty.
I tried a experiment by talking long sheets of paper that I have on large roles and crunching up the paper and then smoothing it out and painting with the iron the tops of the wrinkles. Next I paint with mica watercolors the valleys. I then cut the paper into long strips and wove it into this piece which I wrapped around a stretched canvas.
This woven wax project sold right away so you might try it yourself.
Keep waxing.... John
PS. Remember to order supplies before I close the store while traveling.
A new video just finished for viewing. Also an e-book but didn't have them ready for this issue. I will either send out another email or wait till next month to give you access. Again.... Happy New Year. John Vandebrooke
