Wax On, Wax Off..

Okay - now that you've had a day to let it sink in, let's talk about how we get all up in this wax thing.

First - you need a couple things. Contrary to your (my) hoarding instincts, you may already have some of these things, and if not - pop out to Walgreens. Here's a list:

• Wax - there are sites that sell Encaustic wax specifically - many sites. Google them and look for good pricing and shipping. These wax blocks are rectangular, frequently from Encaustic Art in the Netherlands. However, if you want to just see if you like this technique, just get yourself some crayons and give it a whirl.
• Iron - the only feature of the iron you need to worry about is the surface. It has to be completely smooth, with no steam holes. Many travel irons are like this, and all craft irons are. The size and shape don't matter, although there are encaustic irons with special tips for certain looks - but don't start there. Start simple. I had a craft iron from Global Sugar Art already.
  
• Glossy paper - this can be glossy cardstock, a magazine page - anything with a slick, coated surface.
  
• Stampin' Up! grid paper or another large stack of paper to protect your work surface and to clean your iron with.

Now here's where it goes all crazy easy.

Turn on the iron. Low will work on many irons - on mine, I had to set it to Acrylic. You want it warm enough that when you touch a crayon or wax block to it, it liquifies the wax and you can create little puddles of color.

Start with two colors - a light color towards the top of the iron and a darker color below. Coat the iron, and then just move it across your cardstock from left to right. After you've done this - keep going! Without re-waxing the iron, move your iron around on the wax you already put down to make patterns. Re-wax your iron, even with different colors, and go back over what you've done - it's completely forgiving!

One tip - cut your cardstock before using this technique. The wax will get all over your die cut machine or paper trimmer if you cut it afterwards.

To clean the iron, just leave it on, and iron on your paper stack to remove the wax before moving to another color.

I'll eat a bug if you don't like this technique!!!

If you want to see a video of Birgit creating her wonderful images, click here for her tutorial.

In the meantime, here's my second card with this fun waxy goodness.

I cut the circle out of glossy with my Nestabilities™ and then did the Encaustic background. Then I stamped the image from Elements of Style on top with Basic Black craft ink. Now that will never dry on wax, so I blotted it. You could use Staz On for a quick drying result.

Then I stamped the same image on white cardstock, cut out some flowers and attached them with Glue Dots®.

I glittered the flowers with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.
Then I finished it with a tag, some ribbon and a greeting from Carte Postale.

Are you hooked yet?

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