Fall Encaustics

It has really been a long time since I have done any artwork! I spent the past two weekends working on a few fossil pieces, and trying out some new inks I just bought. Here are a couple of the pieces I finished up yesterday.

The lavendar one is probably my favorite, and both are done with the new copic ink refills on the clay pieces.

Sea Lily Earth Globe

Here is another "Ancient Earth Orb". This one is on a 5" diameter ball, encaustic wax, decorative paper, polymer clay and freshwater pearls.

Finding a base to bake the clay on in this size is next to impossible, so from now on I may be limited to the 4, 6 & 8 inch diameter balls. Since I really like the 5 inch size, I may try to find something that will work.

Ancient Earth Orbs

Here is the new project I was talking about. I wanted to add Polymer Clay fossil replicas and Encaustic in a new way, and came up with "Ancient Earth Orbs". They are much
harder to do in this round shape, but I do like the results.

These three are the first ones I have completed, with more in the works.


The smaller pink orb is 4" in diameter, and the other two are 6" diameter orbs.

New Green Trilobite & Sea Lily

I finished these pieces last weekend during an "Art Day" with a friend of mine. I used a scrap paper towel with green inks and paint for the background, then applied encaustic medium over the top.

I also have a new fossil replica that I used for the main trilobite in the middle of the large green piece. For the small Sea Lily I used a graphic image incorporated into the wax.

I also have a new project in mind (with fossils of course) that I will post as soon as I have a working prototype.

Silver Fossils

I did manage to finish this one today. So far, I think this one might be one of my favorites. It is encaustic wax, imagery, polymer clay, freshwater pearls, alcohol ink and paint. It measures 6 x 6 x 2, and includes some of my new fossil trilobite replicas.

Summer Creations

I have not had much time this summer to work on the "Fossil Series", but have managed in the last couple of months to get these pieces done. All of them are done with some new fossil replicas I ordered and made molds from, and I am having fun with the new fossils, most of them trilobites.

The first piece measures 6 x 12 x 2, the smaller pink one is 5 x 5 x 2, and the purple/rust one is 6 x 6 x 2. Hopefully by the end of the day, I will have another piece done and posted.

Weekend Fossils

I got a new fossil replica in the mail this week-a Crinoid, and ancient sea lily creature. Since I had to use it immediately, I made my mold, and went to work. This piece is about 6 x 12 x 2, and is encaustic wax on a wood cradle with polymer clay, oil paint, paper, and alcohol inks.

I used colors that I don't normally work in, but I did enjoy the challenge. The background colors come from a piece of a paper towel that had ink on it from wiping my brush on it while working on an entirely different project.

The second piece is also encaustic wax on a wood cradle with polymer clay, oil paint, paper, alcohol inks, Pearl Ex, and freshwater pearls. It is smaller, about 5 x 5 x 2.

Clay Guild Swaps

For the last meeting of the year, the swap theme is "Oceans". I decided to work on a very small scale, about 2" x 2" x 1/2", or thereabouts, and included some of my smaller fossils. The fossil replicas are done in polymer clay and alcohol inks, while the background is encaustic wax, oil paint, and alcohol inks. While they are a little too thick to make pendants or pins out of them, I decided to add magnet strips to the back for refrigerator magnets.

Textured Fossil Pieces

I took a fabulous encaustic workshop in textures at the Encaustic Center, where I learned how to create textures with wax. I think this incorporates the fossil pieces into the wax much better, and I am happy with the results.

I also played around with the clay mixture, and am finding the current mix I am using is much easier to work with.

Both of these pieces use encaustic wax, polymer clay, alcohol inks, freshwater pearls and oil paint. The long piece is 5 x 15 x 2, and the square piece is 8 x 8 x 2.

New Fossil Pieces

I got to spend Saturday with friends, and we spent the day working on art projects. I finished these 2 pieces, and have plans for both of them. "Amber Seas" is an organic fossil piece with trilobites and shells in green tones, and is for a friend's birthday. "Mercurical" is a blue and silver fossil piece, and is one I will probably keep. I am having fun working with this technique, and have plans to do some bigger work on larger wood cradles.

Another Fossil Piece

I have now finished my second fossil piece from a workshop. I like this one better, but still need to work on shaping more. It is done with polymer clay, distress embossing powders and encaustic wax.

I did have some trouble with air bubbles, leading to a few cracks, but I think I will keep this piece anyway and hang it up where no one will see the cracks.

Organic Fossil Piece

I took an amazing workshop last weekend from Jana Roberts Benzon, focusing on making organic shapes from polymer clay. The workshop has really inspired me to move forward with some more fossil pieces in Encaustic wax and clay. This is really just a prototype, but I will definitely be working on more.

More Avatar Images

I can't stop playing with this technique! I used an original photo of my niece taken about 4 years ago. Not really a good picture of her (she is much prettier in person than in photos), but I decided to use it to create more "Avatar" images.

Below is the original image I used.

New Digital Work

I love playing with Photoshop! I bought a magazine this weekend that had a tutorial on how to make a portrait photo look like the Avatar movie creatures. Since I did not have a face on portrait, I used faces from a drawing I did in a drawing class once. I used colors slightly different from the ones in the tutorial, but I am fairly pleased with the results.

Since it is snowing in Texas in March (which almost never happens), I then decided to add some backgrounds, and further change the colors up. I don't know what I will do with these images, but I had fun working on them.

Steampunk Heart

After a little break over the holidays, I decided to get back into creating. I took a class from Tejae Floyde a couple of years ago on Encased Hearts, and wanted to try one with a Steampunk theme. The heart is about 3-1/2 to 4 inches tall, and has a little heart encased in it done with a rust technique.

I think the hinge on the back was the trickiest part, since the screws had to be trimmed a little on the inside.