Finishing The Tissue Encaustic

All right, in my previous blog, I was sharing the new technique I was trying, collage with images printed on tissue on 300 lb. press watercolor paper. I finished my first try and found very quickly that it is not as easy as it looks. But then, when something looks great, it isn't usually an easy process!

The glare on the wax is because I took a photo in my studio instead of outside as I usually do.

What I learned:

Cutting the watercolor paper was the easy part!

You can't have your fan running when dealing with tissue images. A fan is a necessary part of doing encaustics because of the fumes but I need to turn it off as I cut, tear, and study placement.

The background to the "tree" was darker, so it shows, although you can't really tell here. I tried using oil pastels and oil sticks to sort of blend it, but it really doesn't work. I know how to make transparent PNG images in PSE, so I will do that next time, then print them.

You CAN use too much wax! I became fed up after trying to scrape back, and then I developed a hot spot where the wax wouldn't stay on the paper.

I am pleased with the layout, as far as composition goes, but I think I will use a stronger "tree" image - that is actually a seaweed.

When trimming the overlapping wax with the blue tape with the X-Acto, you really need to make sure you have a firm press on your ruler. I don't know if you can see, but I took out some of the area that would have showed through a mat board.

The parts of the paper not covered with tape will absorb the wax. In this case it's at the top and would not show if I matted it.

Double sided tape does work in a laser printer. I have also read the painter's tape will work as well. I may give that a try.

I hope that you have seen my encaustic work I've uploaded, to know that I do actually have some skill -haha! I felt like everybody could learn from my mistakes here, so I'm sharing the good with the not-so-good!

I think I will try using a butane torch on these pieces to see if the wax application is smoother. The heat gun seemed to overwhelm the piece. Or else I am too impatient.

And that was my first try, or should I say, experiment! Stay tuned - I'm not giving up!