Wax On, Wax Off!

Hello everyone and happy Saturday! Don't you just love lazy Saturday mornings when you don't have to go to hockey, baseball, or cheer practice? Boy I do and it's so rare when that happens!

Before I get going, I want to share with you what I received from Tim, after winning on his blog the other day. My mouth is still hanging open in wonderment! Can you believe all this? I am sharing with a few crafty pals as well. That is what all this is about...sharing the love!

Holy smokes Craftman...you are generous beyond words!!!

Happy Birthday Tim! May all your creative dreams come true. And you to Jennie from the Artist Stamper across the pond! Speaking of birthdays, my darling daughter will be celebrating her 12th soon.  I have been busy on her present, and oh so cleverly and sneakily designed it around a few challenges. However, as I can't read very well, so I missed the cut off date on Our Creative Corner's color challenge of "pink, purple, green, and yellow". This was the whole premise of my design...I could just smack myself...oh, just did and it hurt! I am going to submit it to the Gingersnap Creation's Spicy Supply Challenge of "wax" though.Here is a little tutorial of how this played out...a tutorial for myself, as I had some problems!

I wanted to do something Andy Warhol-ish. I loved all of his work.  He really was ahead of his time.

I applied gesso very heavily to a canvas plaque, to give texture as well as grip. After it dried I measured off 4 equal rectangles and taped the first one up with masking tape to prevent marring up the others.

I blotted alcohol ink all over the rectangle  but left open spots that were filled in with Distress Ink. It created a marbling effect that looked great on the textured gesso.

I repeated this process for all four rectangles. There was a tiny bit of bleeding over, but it didn't hurt anything. By the way, I had to mix Watermelon and Snow Cap Mixative to achieve pink. So far so good...I was worried how all this would play out.

I stamped a harlequin design design with Jet Black Staz-On  ink to create a border. I am not a good stamper at all, so I had to fill in a few spots with a black sharpie (fabulous invention).

I finally purchased Masking Sheets, and I stamped the face image on one and cut around it to create a facial silhouette, again with Staz-On so no bleeding would occur.

The face was stamped in each rectangle.

I placed the mask over each image and stamped a design in the same color ink as each rectangle. Here is where problems arose. Distress Ink is the coolest, because when you ink over something and then stamp in the same color, it shows up because the image is stamped and therefore more color rich. However...alcohol inks are more intense and I didn't have perfectly matched colors, so my background images were very faint on the purple and especially the pink. I had to use Festive Berries Distress Ink on the pink to make the speckled (or fly poop) image stand out. The purple stood out only in certain spots. I still like the effect though. It's faint, but still adds dimension.

Eyes and lips were filled in...I can't help it, I have to color this in!

Okay, here it the part I was worried about. I even needed sustenance to keep going. Will the ink come off while I'm spreading the wax? Hmm...

Who cares about that now! Look what I've done! I made a huge globby, ugly  mess, because I was so worried about the ink! (Freak the freak out was going on now!!!) I had to walk away.

I knew my trusty heat gun would save the day. I kept the plaque on it's side and started to heat it, and presto, the excess came off and a glorious smooth coating of wax covered the plaque. It dulled the background some, of course, but all the ink stayed on...woohoo!!! What is even cooler was, after I poured out the wax and started to clean up (which was a grandiose  mess) my heat resistance mat felt and looked like new again. It had a nice silky coating on it like when you first open it up. Nice!

I die cut lace trim from cardstock and butterflies and flourishes from modeling film (love this stuff).

Alcohol Ink was added to the butterflies as well as stamped images and enamel for the body, and then I heated them up and shaped as I wanted...so cool! I covered the lace in gesso to keep it strong and sturdy, so it would last for years.

I painted an ornate frame and brads with paint dabber, let them dry, sanded them, and embossed them with UTEE. What a cool vintage look.

A computer generated sentiment was added to the frame and covered up with Crackle Accents.

This is DD's crazy and usually very messy room. It blends in perfectly. I am sure she is going to love it!

 

 

Supplies:

Ranger:  Acrylic Paint Dabber in Snow Cap; Inkssentials- Enamel Accents in Black, Glossy Accents, Crackle Accents; UTEE; Melt Art Bees Wax in White; Melting Pot

Tim Holtz:  Alterations: Sizzix Dies in Festive Greenery, Vintage Lace, & Mini Butterflies Set; Idea-ology- Mask Sheets, Ornate Frame, Baubles, Jump Rings, Ruler; Stamper’s Anonymous Letters to Santa (script), speckled wood block, harlequin clear mount; Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Purple Twilight, Sunshine Yellow, Meadow, Watermelon, Snow Cap; Distress Ink in Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, Festive Berries, Embossing Ink

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490:   Art Parts: Clearly For Art Modeling Film in White; Stamper’s Anonymous in Believe In Art (Normandy lace) & Seriously Art (dots)

Clearly Impressed: Julie van Oosten Series in Time (face)

Liquitex: Clear Gesso

Sakura: Glaze Pens in pink, brown

Uni-Ball: Signo Broad Pigment Ink Pen in White

Artist’s Loft: Canvas Panel in 6x8

Celebrate It: White Polka Dot Tulle Wide Ribbon

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!