Yesterday Martha and Linda came over for a soy wax play day. My studio space is too small for three people to work without stepping all over each other so I moved a table up to the dining room next to the table that's already there. Covered everything with plastic and rigged up a second hot pot.
Everybody brought tools for dipping. Kitchen implements ruled the day, but there were also wooden tjaps and of course, my drain covers. Anything metal was fair game and it was fun trying to predict what kinds of marks various tools would make.
Here is Linda.
And Martha.
This is still a learning process. I've discovered that painting the fabric and leaving the paint to dry on top of the wax can result in that residual paint transferring to fabric during the ironing process, if I iron on the front side. I experimented to see if wiping the wax off while it's still wet would prevent that. Also, ironing from the back side. It seemed to make a difference. Although it's nice to have the back be so different from the front. The images on the backside are much clearer whereas on the front it's a softer image. I wonder if using dye instead of paint results in the same effect.
This is the back side and the front side.
This is a piece with the wax still on it and painted. The original color is sort of peachy-pink and the paint is red. It's a spatula.
After removing the wax, the image is much less distinct, but it's still pretty cool. I can't tell which side is which from these pictures.
The colors leave something to be desired. This is a drain cover (looks like a sand dollar). The light colored thingie is an old time strainer.
And the dropcloths:
It's been so warm the past few days that the snow is nearly gone. The deck has emerged from beneath its snow cover and the piles of snow left by the snow plow are gone. Amazing!
Everybody brought tools for dipping. Kitchen implements ruled the day, but there were also wooden tjaps and of course, my drain covers. Anything metal was fair game and it was fun trying to predict what kinds of marks various tools would make.
Here is Linda.
And Martha.
This is still a learning process. I've discovered that painting the fabric and leaving the paint to dry on top of the wax can result in that residual paint transferring to fabric during the ironing process, if I iron on the front side. I experimented to see if wiping the wax off while it's still wet would prevent that. Also, ironing from the back side. It seemed to make a difference. Although it's nice to have the back be so different from the front. The images on the backside are much clearer whereas on the front it's a softer image. I wonder if using dye instead of paint results in the same effect.
This is the back side and the front side.
This is a piece with the wax still on it and painted. The original color is sort of peachy-pink and the paint is red. It's a spatula.
After removing the wax, the image is much less distinct, but it's still pretty cool. I can't tell which side is which from these pictures.
The colors leave something to be desired. This is a drain cover (looks like a sand dollar). The light colored thingie is an old time strainer.
And the dropcloths:
It's been so warm the past few days that the snow is nearly gone. The deck has emerged from beneath its snow cover and the piles of snow left by the snow plow are gone. Amazing!
