Tuesday 18 August 2015

Sydney Sunset

Actually I'm not sure whether this is sunrise or sunset - apart from not being able to picture which direction I'd be facing if this was all one view, the different hemispheres and time zones throw my brain into a total funk. So maybe I should have just called this "Sydney with an orange sky" but that's not very snappy, is it?

Anyway, whichever  way I am facing, this stamp from the Tim Holtz "Cityscapes" set reminds me of a wonderful holiday some years ago which included a few days visiting friends in Sydney, who showed us all the famous sights, so I decided to use it for my entry to the current challenge at The Male Room which is Vacation/On the Beach

 
Since I attended the Make It Show in Farnborough earlier this year, I've become very keen on Encaustic Painting again  - you can read about my reintroduction to it here - it is the art of "painting" using wax melted onto the sole plate of a hot iron, and I thought this would work perfectly for this scene AND make an unusual entry for the current Inkspirational challenge, with the word prompt  Melt 
                                                  
 
I stamped the scene on to glossy card using Stazon ink, then loaded the iron sole plate with clear wax on the lower half and yellow, orange and red at random on the upper half, then swept the iron randomly across the card a couple of times. Then I cleaned the iron, added a narrow band of blue wax with a little white to the edge of the sole plate and ironed a band of blue at the bottom to represent the sea. (Note- only use white pigmented waxes in areas where you don't want stamping to show through, as it is opaque, whereas most of the coloured waxes are transparent).  
 
When the wax was cool, I polished it with a soft tissue and trimmed and mounted it to fit a DL card.
 
 
 
 
 

10 comments:

Morrighani said...

That's rather fun!

Extreme Housewifery

Monika Reeck said...

oh I love the background you made
adorable manly card
I think I must run to my stamp and make one
I forgot to join at the male room
thanks Jane for the inspiration
I miss your visit dear
hugs
Monika
PS: at 17 August was my hubby bday I posted card on my blog here is the link :)
http://creativewithmonika.blogspot.de/2015/08/2-birthday-cards-for-my-hubby-theme.html

Jane said...

Fab iconic scene. I've never used wax - obviously something I need to look into. Thanks for sharing at The Male Room.

Liz said...

Fabulous card with an amazing background! I've often seen this technique demonstrated at craft shows in the past, but wondered if it was harder to do that the it looked, so always resisted the temptation to buy the iron and wax. Did it take you long to perfect the technique, Jane? xx

Marina said...

The encaustic technique you've used here is just fabulous and sooo perfect for our challenge.
Thank you for joining us at Inkspirational Challenges. Come back next time! Marina

Kimbo said...

Wow Jane, this is fabulous. I've dabbled in encaustic before but never created anything usable. I love how the colours are so crisp yet random - think I need to come round for some tuition x

Deborah Frings said...

Wow! I think the encaustic background is wonderful and perfect for the Sydney image. Sorry I'm so late commenting, thanks for playing along with The Male Room's Vacation/Beach challenge!

Mac Mable said...

Oh this is special, so clever and so very creative. A new technique to me but one worth taking a look at if you can create cards like this. Gorgeous!

Dora B. said...

You actually melted wax to make your card; what a interesting twist. I live the bright colors and the random patterns the wax made.

Susanne Vargas said...

Wow, what a great effect! So cool!