Thursday, July 9, 2009

That Sounds Like a Dare!

Some friends and I are planning to play around with wax collage/encaustics soon. Someone mentioned we shouldn't use acrylic paints with wax. Why, I wondered? It seems like it might have a cool reaction. Well, because it's just not done. Hmmmm.....sounded like a challenge to me. How do I know if I haven't tried it? You know, I almost named my blog 'I Wonder What Would Happen If....?'

I hurried out to my studio to see what would happen. If it was a total bust, at least I could say I tried. I grabbed a piece of cardstock and glued down the nearest scraps of paper available. I added a beautiful image that I got here. I used my heat gun (I'm pretty sure that's frowned upon too) and melted some beeswax over the whole thing. When it was cool, I broke out my new Adirondack Dabber and started dabbing. While it was wet I hit it with the heat gun again and it did what I thought it might. It reacted with the wax and started breaking into chunks and was suspended in the wax. VERY cool!

I just found this fantastic quote:

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun."
- Mary Lou Cook

I think I'll make that my tagline!

14 comments:

  1. i det you loved truth and dare as a child:D i like the aged look..thanks for taking is for a trial run for us:D

    ReplyDelete
  2. That DID turn out cool! I may have to try that some day.

    Cyndi

    P.S. My word verification this time is "fartwing". I guess if you have to let one fly . . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks for your interesting approach to the wax and paints..I am dying to try it out now but unfortunately its midnight so will have to wait till tomorrow!! thanks for visiting my blog...love that quote as well

    ReplyDelete
  4. very kewl Shelly, I've played with wax but never tried using the paint, Your so creative Love your results!!!, wish you lived closer so we could do a play day!
    I Love the quote you found ,something we should all live by!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful card, Shelly. Love the digital image:) I too wish we lived closer so we could have a "play day". Thanks for sharing your creations with all of us.
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can never resist a challange either!!
    this is fantastic, you keep up the experiments!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful for my eyes, but I would like to touch it... :O)

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a wonderful quote you found Willy, and it is so true.
    I bought beeswax and a melt pot over 6 months ago and still have not tried it, I keep planning on it then get started on something else. I have seen people on Youtube going over the wax with a heat gun to smooth it out, and did you know you can stamp on it if you put vaseline on your stamps? I saw it on a video and it was so cool.
    I love what you did here, way to go, experimenting is fun :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This collage is fantastic, and your paint/wax mix effect turned out great! Good for you, for ignoring the naysayers. And the quote is very appropriate.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gosh, what a gorgeous piece! Did you try putting paint down first then doing wax on top of that? Never listen to naysayers. They don't know a thing and are just jealous. ha
    Adding you to my blogroll too. Don't know how you fell off of there.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Really cool space you have here!

    Hugs,
    Christina :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh that turned out so cool!!!! Just remember when heating plastic- which acrylic basically is- to keep your window open. I love the quote, I think I'll make that my motto too! :D Marva

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate your comments so much!