Art From My Heart

I have been asked by a few people if I could possibly do a tutorial about using beeswax. I don't usually write a lot or ramble on my blog because I want my art to be what my blog is about, so bear with me and be gentle! 

Regular readers will know I am passionate about postcards and I send them nearly all over the world therefore I chose a postcard for my tutorial, here goes: 

Firstly cut some good quality white card to standard postcard size which is 6 inches x 4 inches. Paint your background colours, stamp some images colour and cut out. Notice I stamped the sun image before painting, this is because I wanted the sun to have a hazy effect.

Start gluing things in place adding more details as you go along.

This is all very easy really isn't it? Keep adding and sticking until you are happy with your composition. Then, and this is very important when using beeswax. SEAL your work. I have found, when applied well, Claudine Hellmuth's Multi Medium Matt to be the best thing, try and get under any edges of your images that may not be stuck down completely, you'll see why later!! Before the Multi Medium dries it is an ideal time to add glitter or sequins or any other flat bling you have. Now the fun bit.....

Using ordinary natural beeswax and a small quilting iron, melt your wax on to your work, it is trial and error but when you have enough drops of wax just smooth them over with the iron to get a nice thin, smooth ish layer of wax. Blast all over with a heat gun to level the wax and get a nice finish and make sure you haven't missed any bits. Finally when cool buff with a soft clean cloth for a lovely shine.

There are a few things to remember when using wax. Once you have used something for wax you can really only use it for wax, so if you have a melt pot and would rather melt your wax and brush it on I suggest getting a project pan just for your wax. If you do decide to melt your wax in a melt pot and brush on your wax you will get a much thicker layer which can alter the original colours of your work. If left unattended molten wax can combust, be warned!! Store your beeswax art away from heat sources as it can melt! Every so often you'll notice the wax dull, this is called blooming, keep buffing it with a soft clean cloth and eventually the wax will stop blooming. 

Can you remember I said about sealing the edges of your images you stuck down on the next photo you will see why it is so important to project your work from the hot, molten wax. Look at the top of the character's  head and cloud above his head, I missed these bits, you will see they have gone a dark grey, this is what wax does to paper, so again be warned. I did a lovely postcard not long a go and was in a rush and didn't seal, the whole thing went a dark grey and was spoiled.

So here is the finished piece, you can't see the embedded glitter very well but it is there.

I hope you give beeswax a try, it smells divine and is a very forgiving medium to work with, the wax gently brings all the different layers of your work together and that glitter will never escape!

Stampotique stamps I used are: Tulip and Give the dog a bone for the flower stalks. Row faces for the flower faces, I cut out the faces and stuck on a piece of card and hand drew their leaves. Sun Design and 2 Nuages. Wildflower Verse for the journalling. Stones and grass cube and finally the lovely character is Heart Shirt.

Wishing you a lovely weekend, Sam xxx