So, don't fall out of your chairs, but here I am posting within TWO days of my last post! Incredible. The planets must be aligned or something...that something is probably the fact that my 8 year old is at summer camp and I have long hours to fill and no excuse not to blog.
The second workshop I taught at ArtFest earlier this year was Encaustic Lighthouses! I love houses and am always looking for ways to create 3D pieces. I noticed some double-sided, fusible interfacing while wandering through Hobby Lobby one day and wham (!), the lightbulb flashed on! I could make stiff fabric panels that could be sewn together to make a stand-alone house! I made a few of these, then one day, when the encaustic medium was warming on the griddle, I thought that it might be fun to coat the houses in wax. Voila! A new class was born! What's really cool is that you can put one of those electric tea lights inside and watch the flickering light through the translucent fabric walls!
In this workshop, the students learned how to create their own printed fabrics, make fabric panels and decorate them with various media. Basics in using encaustic wax medium were covered, along with how to create inclusions in the wax, carving and back-filling with oil paints.
So, get ready to view some amazing home improvement projects! If only my own house were this easy to put together, lol! Preparing the walls...
I love these close-up photos of hands at work...
This student drew all of her own designs on blank panels!
This house is a good example of how you can use the wax to "stick" things to the surface...note the puzzle pieces...
This detail shot shows that the fabric panels are stiff enough (even before the wax is applied!) to enable you to add decorative elements with cold connections such as brads, nuts and bolts or stitching!
And now for some village shots! I love seeing all of the tiny houses standing together...
Notice the stitching detail in the houses below...
This student cut out the image from the business card I gave her!
Stilts! What fun!
Fantastic detail stitching!
Butterfly!
The "Party House"! 'Nuff said...
I wouldn't mind doing time in the "Big House"...
Here is a note I received from a student after this workshop: "I just wanted to let you know again how very much I enjoyed your class! I just loved the little houses and cannot wait to finish decorating mine and to make more of them. I really appreciated your teaching style and how available you were to help out and answer questions. I hope to join you for another class somewhere down the line."
This workshop is one that I will be teaching at several venues this fall! Check out the front page of my blog for a list of dates and locations. I hope to see you there!