ENCAUSTIC CAMP 2011

Trish, what an amazing treat to have been able to attend your Encaustic Camp of 2011! I am so grateful to have been able to be a part of such an incredible event..... you are simply an inspiration to all who are lucky enough to have been in one of your classes.

Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch organised an amazing 3 day Encaustic Camp in picturesque Salem, Oregon, July 14 -16. Her love of encaustics was evident and she shared all her techniques amongst 40 amazing ladies all around USA, Canada, and me the lone Aussie. There were several tutors besides Trish. Judy Wise, Crystal Neubauer, Bridgette Guerzon Mills and Michelle Belto.
I did not know what to expect, but was totally overwhelmed by everyone present. The learning of Encaustics, making friends with so many amazing talented and creative ladies, and 3 talented gentlemen was beyond my wildest expectations. I am totally in love with Encaustic........ and am looking forward to my next class with Trish, who is planning on teaching in Melbourne in 2012 at Queen of Arts Retreat. I can highly recommend attending her classes if you are interested in learning Encaustics.

ENCAUSTIC CAMP Day 1

Day 1 of Encaustic Camp began with a class taught by Crystal Neubauer. A truly inspiring, generous and creative teacher. We learned how to combine wire, fabric, paper, transfers with encaustic medium.

ENCAUSTIC CAMP Day 2

Bridgette Guerzon Mills ran day 2 of the camp. In this class we learned how to make laser/photocopy transfers into encaustic medium, make wax paper, combine layers of encaustic medium with oil bars, oils stick and oil paints and create a one of a kind book. It was truly inspiring. Collage elements were embedded into the encaustic medium to create layers. I still have 2 more pages to complete, the day was not long enough.

ENCAUSTIC CAMP Day 3

Day 3 of Encaustic Camp was with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. What an amazing day this was. Trish shared with so many techniques of how to create encaustic masterpieces. We used, plaster, tar, oil sticks, oil paints, butane torch to burn backgrounds, shellac burns (this was a bit scary) which were all done outside with a "burn buddy" for safety.
Below is my 8 x 8 inch panel which I used masking tape and plaster to create a grid, using a butane torch burned the black background and layered on encaustic medium.

OWL FETISH

This little trio of boards were created using oil sticks, layers of encaustic medium with embedded owls.

This 8 x 8 inch panel was created using plaster and a stencil, then torched to create a blackend background, encaustic medium applied and chain embedded into it.

Encaustic with plaster and burning into wood.

This tryptich was created with a foundation of plaster, torching into the wooden board, oil paint sticks and then layered with encaustic medium.

HANDMADE SHRINE

My sister Val, recently attended an amazing workshop at Primrose Paper Arts in Sydney. She had the pleasure of learing how to make a handmade shrine to display precious items from ones own 'private' collection.

The very talented Sandy Webster from USA was teaching an amazing class. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend. Val was happy to teach me what she had learned from Sandy.

The shrine was made from box board. Each piece was carefull measured and cut out. Handmade paper was painted and carefully covered each piece. It was then all assembled together. It was very time consuming, but well worth the effort.

Our thanks go out to Sandy Webster, not only for her creative talents, but also for sharing them with her students. I hope to catch one of her classes next time she is in Sydney.

Meanwhile, Primrose Paper Arts have some amazing classes on offer.... go check them out.

Val's shrine displaying her treasure trove of collected items.

RUSTING BOTTLE CAPS

I have been collecting rusty flattened bottle caps for sometime now, but my regular haunts have run dry.... I am wondering if others are also doing the same. Not sure what I was going to do with them, but couldnt resist an opportunity to clean up carparks, gutters and other odd places but also to save them for some rainy "craft' day. Now that I have booked into an Encaustic Camp in July, I have an idea that I will take my supply with me to maybe use them in a project. Not having enough of them, I have decided to make some. After trying many recipes from people on the internet, most of which did not work. I resorted to the use of salt and hydrogen peroxide, which I can say "does work". Have depleted all my local pharmacies from their supplies, have to wait for more stock to come in so I can give them another dose.... when sufficiently rusty, I will be hitting them with a hammer to flatten them. If anyone has any better ideas for quick rusting, I would love to hear them.

A Big Surprise

I joined a yahoo group a while ago, but have never participated in any swaps, but love seeing all the lovely work that is done by the lovely ladies using "All things Tim Holtz".
Today in my letterbox was a most beautifully decorated envelope from Canada.... not realising who it was from, I opened it up and found a very nice selection of papers, stickers and cute things from Lorraine.
Thanks so much Lorraine for randomly picking me. I actually had no idea the group does this. I will now do my RAK for 5 other lovely ladies in the group.

First project for 2011

First post for 2011.
I have been away overseas settling my daughter into her new life in NYC (she is a lucky girl).
I am feeling a little sad that she has left home, but she has a fantastic job and is very happy.
Arrived back last Friday and was going through major jetlag and withdrawals from not going to any craft shops or making anything for 3 weeks! I needed a quick fix ~ my sister came to the rescue. Paint a canvas with colours of choice, wind kitchen twine (the hairy kind) around and around, up and down and then criss cross, adding a few knots here and there. Then dab on white paint carefully so you don't dislodge the string too much, taking care not to let too much white paint get under the string. Once you are happy with the coverage (I dabbed 3 coats of white on), and it is semi dry, remove string carefully. Some of the hairs remain, which adds to the texture.
This canvas measures 76 cm x 76 cm, now hanging on my wall.

FANCY BRACELET

I made this bracelet which adorns the top of my manniquin from a kit which I purchased from Objects and Elements. It was fun making it, but dont think I will wear it.

CLOSE UP OF ETCHING JEWELLERY