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Larger Encaustics
Topic Started: Sep 17 2005, 06:53 PM (487 Views)
mifmif
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Heidi, I remember asking Barry, when he came and demonstrated to our local WI, before I had even picked up an iron myself, how did one tackle larger works?

Being a man of few words, his reply was.....

USE MORE WAX!

Honestly...don't be scared! Just bung on the wax each time it all runs out, till your card is covered. Stick with abstract till you are more confident (when is a mess not a mess? When it's an abstract!) and just go for it! The second picture I ever did was A3 (never was one for keeping things small! :D ) Once you do an A4, you will wonder what all the fuss was about! All it takes is confidence....and MORE WAX! Maria x
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Heidi
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Maria and Steve,
You make it seem so easy to fill an A4.
I'm still having trouble to get the right amount of wax on an A6 :groan
Still learning how to iron silk :rlol:
But maybe I'll find the courage to just give it a try.......

Heidi
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mifmif
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Heidi....IT IS EASY! The only thing that prevents anyone from progressing to something on a larger scale is self-confidence! I bet, once you try A4..there will be no stopping you! And so what if the first attempt isn't so great? We all make rubbish pictures once in a while...hell..you should see some of my disasters! They'd have you rolling on the floor in fits of laughter! But the thing is about trying new things is...it stretches you! And that is good.

All you need to do is load your iron all over (though not so it starts running off) then smooth it across the top edge of an A4 card. Then repeat that with the same band of colours if it runs out before the end of the card. Do that in bands down the card, and try to keep the lighter colours in the middle. Light is important in any painting, wax or otherwise. Once you have covered the whole card with colour.....PLAY! Move it about, smooth it, dab it, draw with the edge. It's fun! And all the time you are playing....you are learning how the wax reacts. The only thing you have to watch out for really is over-working the colours so you end up with a muddy mess. Remember, less is more! Keep it simple, keep to maybe three colours at first and just go for it! Maria x
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waxingsteve
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Listen to Maria, Heidi! :) It's great fun, which is what's most important, and you'll be amazed at what happens without you really having to try too hard :thumbup; Of course, you may have to start ordering waxes by the crate :r :r

Steve :)
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Heidi
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Oké oké..........the only problem now is that I only have A5 paper :r

So next time I'll start with that first.

Still one question left.
Each time you add a next band on the card I get a 'line' is there some way to prohibit this?


Heidi
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waxingsteve
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Personally, if it's critical to avoid band lines, I raise the card slightly and let it curve away from the base of the iron. Otherwise, I try to work it so that bands are "natural" to the subject, such as a line of mountains/hills/the horizon generally. Also, drawing the iron away from previous lines helps to blend the bands at the edges. There are probably better techniques, though ;)

Steve :)
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mifmif
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If you have a hot-air gun you can gently blow along the lines to blend them into one another. You could use a hair-dryer, though it blows the wax as well rather than heating it in one place. There is a tip that I tried out for myself the other day that was on a DVD I watched. Get a small box (I used an old shoe box) and place it on the table in front of you with the edge of the box level with the edge of the table. Put the picture you are working on top of the box with the bottom edge hanging down off the box/table and put something heavy like a book to weight it down at the top edge. Now you have 2 hands free so that you can bend the card at the bottom with one and work the iron with the other. This helps to avoid iron marks and with a bit of practice does work! Hope that helps. Maria x
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Heidi
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Thanks Steve and Maria, I've learned more these last couple of days then I did in the last months :thumbup;

Heidi
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waxingsteve
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I'm glad that we've been able to help, Heidi :) There's so much that we can learn together, here, just by chatting ;)

Steve :)
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