Wax fish?

The topic over at PaperArtsy for the next couple of weeks is "wax". I'm trying to join in with a few more challenges this year and thought this one might be fun to play with.

I don't have any wax art supplies and for a first experiment I decided to just go with stuff around the house so a plain old tealight came into play! It's translucent enough to work as long as the layers don't get too thick.

I used an ATC cut from mountboard - I like to go with something small when I'm just experimenting with materials and techniques, it feels more manageable than a full card or canvas. I stamped the fish skeleton on the ATC and coloured the edges with wax crayons (just cheap kids' ones from the £1 shop). Then I tipped some melted wax on there and used a heat tool to spread it out, let it set and repeated.

Once the wax layer was thick enough, I used a pokey tool to draw round the shapes in the stencil and get incised lines. I brushed the wax crumbs off, replaced the stencil and added a little colour with a couple of Copic markers (just dabbing so the nibs shouldn't have come to any harm!). That left the surface sticky enough to hold some Perfect Pearls. In real life it looks much more layered and inscribed but wax and mica combined to make a bit of a photography nightmare, I'm afraid!

Having made the ATC, I decided to mount it onto a card blank with just a little inky stenciling and a stamped sentiment. I think it will make a useful masculine card to have in my stash.

Stamps:
PaperArtsy Mini 100
Sentiment from Essential Messages by Hero Arts

Paper: 
mountboard
Bamboo mixed media paper by Hanemuhl
black cardstock

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass) 

Other:
Cell Theory stencil by Crafters Workshop
Tea light
Wax crayons
Perfect Pearls (Turquoise and Blue Raspberry)
Copic markers 
ATC and Corners die by Tim Holtz/Sizzix

Thanks for stopping by!

Coffee lover!

Inspired by a mixed media challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, I've been having a little play with coffee!

We don't usually have instant coffee but I got a small jar a while ago when we had workmen around who preferred it to "proper" coffee! The bit left in the bottom of the jar came in useful.

I made a strong coffee mix to start and used it at different dilutions - weak on a flat brush through the stencil to start off with and to sponge the edges of the card, strong to tint some gesso to paint over the hearts and also to add shading. I smeared some of the full-strength solution onto a craft mat, dabbled the flourish stamp into it and stamped around the edges. I finished by stamping a coffee-related quote with pigment ink.

I made a more conventional card with the same stencil for the Bubbly Funk blog too - you can see that here if you're interested!

Stamps:
Dinkie Vintage Flourish by Indigo Blu
My own design coffee sentiment

Ink:
Instant coffee/water!
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Love Post 6x6 stencil by the Crafters Workshop
Gesso

Thanks for stopping by!