encaustic work from 24 April, 2008

About this coming Thursday, please remember your double boiler, panels we started last week and another panel you can iron and adhere metal leaf to - this can be one you have already worked on or a new one. Alix, that means 3 panels for you. Marco, if you don't have the medium made yet, don't worry. Bring the wax. I'll bring more Damar resin and we'll make it in class this week. See you all Thursday.

This collection of images is sans Alix because she is in Sante Fe getting married. Happy life Alix.

Kristine - String River
Marco - Texture
Bill - A Brand New Release
Bill - A Warm Day

The qualities of various colors

Hey everyone, if you want a nice reference for color descriptions go to this page on the R&F site. It has a really good description of all the colors R&F carries. It also mentions if they are transparent or opaque.

fire and encaustic for April 24, 2008

You need to bring this Thursday:
- 2 panels to paint white:
one of a size that will fit flat inside your frypan or on your pallette - say 6x8 or 6x6
the second panel can be the size you have been using or whatever goes with the size print, drawing you want to use.
- a third panel to begin the rabbit skin glue process
- a fourth panel to collage
- material you want to use to collage: photos, small 3D bits, monoprints to cut up, drawings, magazine photos

A heads up - for the May 1st class I'm going to ask you to bring an inexpensive double boiler to make the rabbit skin glue gesso. I'll bring the R&F whiting for it. I think the whiting will cost each of us about $9. And I'll supply the rabbit skin glue.

Also, thought you might be interested in this from R&F - another wax: Soy Wax. You would use this for cleaning brushes (should you want to do that): " We at R&F as well as a number of our customers have been experimenting with partially-hydrogenated soy wax as a replacement for paraffin. The results have been encouraging. Soy wax is non-toxic and burns cleaner than paraffin. Soybeans are a renewable source, unlike paraffin, which consists of petroleum. Soy Wax is naturally biodegradable. Soy wax is also easier to remove than paraffin wax, so after the color has been cleaned out of the brush, the brush can be washed with soap and water and is reusable in other mediums."

Here are the images from the last class, presented alphabetically:

Alix - Holes In the Story

Alix - Ode to a Wedding

Alix - Rose Violet Scribble

Bill - Mardi Gras Band

Bill - Palimpsest

Bill - Plaid Prototype

Bill - Weave

Kristine - Coral

Kristine - Dissembling Butterfly

Kristine - Maize and Blue

Marco - Abstraction

encaustic monoprints tomorrow night

Hi everyone. Just a reminder to bring your bits for monoprints tomorrow night including any markers for after effects - like grease pencils, wax crayons or oil sticks. Or anything else you can think of.

Fire's date with monoprints

What to bring next Thursday, April 17th besides your normal encaustic bits:
- everyone bring one or more panels to paint white. It will have your print or painting or blank paper applied to it the following week. I'll bring the white acrylic paint and a brush.
- Marco, your panel you painted yesterday. You may scrape the wax off and experiment again or continue with what you have begun. Or you can spend the evening on monoprints. Everyone else bring what you want to work on or you can just do monoprints.
- either your encaustic medium already melted and formed or your beeswax and Damar crystals and a container to melt the wax in
- torch
- pigments in oil paint, dry pigments or encaustic stick or the other forms we mentioned
- paper for monoprints. I would suggest about 25 sheets of some inexpensive paper. If you want to experiment with some nice Japanese paper or printmaker's paper that would be fine too.

Some notes about making medium -
- it will take about 4 hours. The timing may be different depending on the the vessel you're using.
-set the electric skillet or crock pot to warm or lowest setting
- put in the Damar crystals in a 1:8 ratio - Damar:beeswax - the 4 ounces of Damar to the 2 pounds of beeswax
- put the beeswax in on top of the Damar
- put the lid on, slightly ajar, and let it melt.
Check it now and then to see how it's coming. Pay attention to the odor. It should smell like beeswax. If it smells obnoxious, turn it off.
After awhile - maybe 3 hours - the wax will be melted but the Damar may still be tarry. You can stir it around with a wooden spoon to spread out the Damar or just put the lid back on and wait longer.
- when it is all melted together use a dedicated soup ladle (you won't want to use it for food again) and spoon the liquid wax into the cupcake papers. It is best if you filter the wax as you ladle it. A cheap kitchen strainer should work. Again, you won't want to use it for food once you've used it for wax.
If you have to interrupt this process, no problem. Turn it off then back on later.
Note: this is a messy process. Protect surfaces.

Fire's first encaustic paintings

Hi Alix, Bill, Kristine and Marco. It looks like we're up and running.

Bill - landscape
Kristine - plateau + river

Also, I emailed R&F with your names but you have to mention the class in order to get the discount. They don't automatically know you are taking an encaustic class. Marco, go to the R&F website and look around. They have lots of information.