Welcome to another fun StencilGirl blog hop stop! Today I'm using Seth Apter's new stencil called
Inside Out for a mixed media encaustic piece.
I started by lightly misting a sanded board (see
here re: my use of recycled art boards) and then using Caran D'Ache Neocolor II wax crayons to create the first layer. Since these are water-soluble crayons, I sprayed the piece with a fixative before adding the first layer of encaustic medium.
Some layers of tissue paper, one on which I had written a quote, were added next.
In my fibre art group,
Group of Eight Fibre Artists, we participate in two challenges each year. The current challenge is "Secrets", so although I have another piece I'm doing for the challenge, I thought I'd also use that theme for this piece.
The quote reads, "...there are two types of secrets...the kind you want to keep in, and the kind you don't dare to let out."
Seth's stencil, in addition to having many fabulous design elements, includes the words 'inside', 'out', and 'secret'. Perfect for the quote right!?
I used oil pastel to add some of the elements from the stencil onto the surface, and then used a heat gun to slightly melt and fuse the pastel with the encaustic medium.
I drew some simple dots with the oil pastel and doodled circles around them with either a permanent black pen or my Signo white pen, again fusing the ink into the wax.
Great news...StencilGirl has a giveaway!
Two lucky winners will each get a set of Seth Apter's newly released stencils!
All comments left on the hop are eligible for the giveaway so
the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you will have to win.
Have fun and GOOD LUCK!
The giveaway will close on Sunday, May 4th at 11:59PM Central Time.
Please Note: Although this is considered a one day hop,
you have the ENTIRE week to comment to win the prize.
Note about replies during blog hops: Blogger seems to cut me off at a certain number of replies (no sure how many) and then stops letting me post comments from you. Since I want anyone to have a chance to win the giveaway prizes, I have decided to only reply if someone asks a direct question.
Please know that all of your comments are much appreciated. I do read them all, and I thank you for all of your kind and thoughtful words!
Blog Hop Order
On Friday I started this little diversion from the long term fibre pieces I've been working on. I just needed a quick piece that I could do, start to finish, in a couple of days. I got to the thread doodling the other day, and it was a lot of fun just to randomly doodle the little swirls into the round piece. For contrast, the square piece has straight lines. I decided I wanted the circle to be attached to the square so that the edges were still loose and could sit up a bit from the square.
I'm thinking of some fun stitching, both machine and hand stitch to further the idea of opposites. Hopefully I'll be able to show you the finished piece soon. 
Many years ago, I designed and made a quilt that was used for the quilt guild's block of the month. Although I liked the idea of the blocks, I never really liked the little quilt I had made with them. So, this weekend I decided to repurpose it into an organizational system.
Anyway, the original blocks were 12" blocks so I cut them down to 11.5". The four blocks used for the outer panels of the bags were trimmed to get rid of any binding, but the four blocks that I used for inner pockets were trimmed so that the binding became the open edge of the pocket. 
Please come visit me over on StencilGirl Talk today where I'm using Julie Snidle's Curvy Ladder stencil as I play with some more drywall compound and encaustic medium...
I've been wanting to try encaustic for a long time, but for some reason I just kept putting it off. I think I was a little intimidated by some of the technical 'stuff' even though I've used similar tools and heat for resists, batik, etc. Anyway, I've got Daniella Woolf's fabulous book and DVD, The Encaustic Studio so I finally pulled them off the shelf, spent time reading and watching and then I felt ready to jump in!
For my substrates, I'm recycling some picture boards (not sure what to call them but you can see them in the picture). I get them for pennies at a recycling depot in town, so they're perfect. I sand them, cover them with gesso* and then I'm ready to go (research gesso vs. encaustic gesso if you're planning to do this).
I wanted some heavy texture in this piece, so I pulled out the drywall compound again, and using a stencil I applied a thick layer of compound with my fingers, making it easy to control where I was applying it without having to mask off the stencil.
I last posted about this piece here, when I had added the text using painted fusible web. Well, I've finally found my way back to it (life's been getting in the way!) and I've now finished another step in the process. I've layered the batting under the top (no backing yet), and free motion stitched around all of the text to outline it.
