It seems something went amiss when I tried to move the posts in this thread about craft rooms to their own post — my original post has disappeared along with all your lovely replies that were specific to this topic. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'm recreating my original post in case anyone else was interested. My apologies for losing your replies! 
One of my more recent obsessions is working with encaustic — using melted wax with other pigments and media. The top two are 6x6 panels (from a couple of years ago) with a layer of acrylic and ephemera topped with liquid wax, smoothed, and dried. Then other layers of media, each with its own top layer of wax, followed by the tiny flowers I picked up on a morning walk. The trick is to get the wax as smooth as possible, using a heat gun and then letting it cool enough to press in more layers without disturbing the layers below. When you're done with the final layer of wax, it all "cures" for about a day and then you use a soft cloth to buff the wax into a sheen.
It took several hours to do both pieces and it takes a bit of trial and error to learn how and where to apply the heat gun. Despite all the warnings to do this type of project in a well-ventilated room, I may or may not have set off the incredibly loud smoke detectors in my house. Turns out there's no way to turn those suckers off ... the smoke just has to dissipate. Who knew??
The bottom photo uses the same technique, but with a delicate small branch of leaves I picked up on another walk. The branch was a bit too big to fit on the panel and as I was trying to keep it bent as the wax dried (not an easy task is the wax is hot!!), I knew exactly what text was needed. We call that a "happy accident" Lol!
One of my more recent obsessions is working with encaustic — using melted wax with other pigments and media. The top two are 6x6 panels (from a couple of years ago) with a layer of acrylic and ephemera topped with liquid wax, smoothed, and dried. Then other layers of media, each with its own top layer of wax, followed by the tiny flowers I picked up on a morning walk. The trick is to get the wax as smooth as possible, using a heat gun and then letting it cool enough to press in more layers without disturbing the layers below. When you're done with the final layer of wax, it all "cures" for about a day and then you use a soft cloth to buff the wax into a sheen.
It took several hours to do both pieces and it takes a bit of trial and error to learn how and where to apply the heat gun. Despite all the warnings to do this type of project in a well-ventilated room, I may or may not have set off the incredibly loud smoke detectors in my house. Turns out there's no way to turn those suckers off ... the smoke just has to dissipate. Who knew??
The bottom photo uses the same technique, but with a delicate small branch of leaves I picked up on another walk. The branch was a bit too big to fit on the panel and as I was trying to keep it bent as the wax dried (not an easy task is the wax is hot!!), I knew exactly what text was needed. We call that a "happy accident" Lol!
