Waxing Alphabet Blocks

Garage sale finds are the best!  It's like a treasure hunt every time.  A few years ago, I snagged some old wooden alphabet blocks.  I wasn't sure how I would use them, but I knew they were one of those lucky finds. 

Since I've been waxing encaustic (pun intended!), I realized that these little blocks would make perfect canvases for some mini encaustic art pieces.  Wax is heavy and brittle, which makes wood the perfect foundation.  I literally felt a light bulb go off in my brain. I could create encaustic ornaments using my own photos for the 212 Art Center's Holiday Sale. 

This is the story of the birth of my block ornaments.  You've seen my first attempt with a larger block with the letter "N" on the front and a 3-d nest on the top.  I've improved it with a couple of felted eggs in the nest.

 Here are all the "babies" I made today.  I picked up random broken chains at the fiber fair this weekend to make charming little fobs with which to hang them.

These photos are all from shots I took of birds in my yard.  I took the liberty of adding red berries onto whatever tree or shrub they were perched on regardless of the actual species!  :)

Here they all are hanging...

Here are the backs...

 

And another view...

I'm very pleased with what I've come up with so far.  Let me know if you have some ideas.

Encaustic Fun

I took the day off from my kitchen and canning... 

I have had all my encaustic supplies for well over a month and had proceeded no further than mixing the damar crystals with the beeswax and pouring the medium into silicon molds.  Today that changed!  I actually spent most of the day playing and creating with wax, tissue, and odds and ends of recycled ephemera.

I had picked up some old wooden blocks from a garage sale several years ago and realized today that they would make perfect small foundations for the wax and collage materials I planned to use.   Before tackling the blocks, I started a practice board and a photo transfer method.

Eventually it evolved into this:

Then I started getting really messy!

And created this...