Inspiration Post - Feather Collage

It is Cec here and I am bringing you the inspiration post today and in keeping with the current challenge, Wax Lyrical, I am including some wax on my project.  I have created a little collage and here is how it came together.

I started with a 6"x6" canvas (Above Ground) and gave it a coat of white gesso (Liquitex).

Next I added some stenciling with Molding Paste (Golden) through a Bubble stencil (Tim Holtz).

I forgot to take a photo but the next step was to paint the canvas with Khaki Acrylic Paint (Craftsmart) and then spray it with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain (Tim Holtz).

Once the canvas was dry I added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) to the raised areas and the edges of the canvas.  Now it was time to prepare all the collage elements.

Using Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger), I stamped a feather (Inkadinkadoo) onto a torn scrap of buff coloured card stock.

Once it was stamped I crumpled it up a bit and smoothed it back out and then inked all over with Tree Branch Archival Ink (Wendy Vecchi) making sure to highlight the creases.

Next I shaved a bit of beeswax (ArtMinds) with a cheap grater from the dollar store into a tin cupcake tin and heated it on top of a portable element.  The beeswax was painted on the feather piece and then I used my heat gun to smooth out the streaks.

Here are a few tips from my experience working with the beeswax:

• Make sure you are in a well ventilated room (I just opened the window of my studio).
• Use an old paintbrush that you don't mind dedicating to wax because some wax will stay in it when it dries but it can be used with wax again - it will melt once you add it to hot wax.
• Work quickly because the wax dries very fast.
• Use a heat gun to smooth out the streaks left by the paint brush.
• Try not to manipulate your piece after you have finished heating it because once it is dry, the wax can crack - learned this from experience when I tried to distress the edges a bit more.
• Use archival ink because distress ink may bleed when you add the hot wax - I didn't test it so it is just my assumption.

I changed the colour of a piece of crochet lace from my stash by dragging it through some watered down Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) and then giving it a few sprays of Burnished Brass Moonshadow Mist (Lindy's),

Using some Crafter's Clay (Martha Stewart) and once of her silicone moulds, I created a little medallion and once it was dry I painted it with Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint (DecoArt).

I created the sentiment on the computer, inked it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) and added a brad (Making Memories) to one corner.  The heart was in my stash and was hand cut, inked with Vintage Photo DI and then had some stenciling added with Tree Branch Archival Ink through a Splatter stencil (Tim Holtz).

To assemble the collage, I added a torn piece of natural paper from my stash and topped it with the lace and then the feather panel.  some copper wire from my husband was wrapped around a stick and added to the top.  A rusty washer and the sentiment were added in the right side and then some fibres (EK Success) with the heart and medallion were added on the left side.  I used a soft gel medium (Golden) as an adhesive for all my elements.

I don't know how the wax will behave if I use it to embed items on a collage but stay tuned because I am going to give it a try.  With a 50% off coupon from Michaels, this was a much more affordable alternative to encaustic wax.

I hope you like my little collage with beeswax and will give it a go yourself.