MC Sept/15 - Encaustic Monoprint Poinsettia - A Smile

I went to an encaustic monoprinting demo on Saturday at Kensington Art Supply here in Calgary and enjoyed it thoroughly. Annette did a wonderful job with the demo and I was enthused to try it. I picked up the Enkaustikos "Shimmer Set" which are the basic gold, bronze, copper & I think a pearl. Didn't use them yet BIG GRIN.  I wanted to make a poinsettia, so I needed red, green and black - colors I didn't have, so used my Crayolas instead. Worked well. I also didn't have the recommended anodized plate so used a folded up piece of aluminum foil. That worked well as well... I couldn't find my light weight rice paper so used my medium weight. Worked ok, but would have preferred the light weight. After putting everything away I thought I should have tried using tissue paper... That will be for the next time which will be soon... I also didn't have a flat griddle plate, so used my frying pan instead and also covered it in foil. (it's a dedicated pan for arts and crafts.)

I warmed up the frying pan - started with 175º and realized right away cooler is better, so went down to 150º. Did my red petals, then black dots in the center. Used a bamboo skewer to pull the black wax into the red petals like veining. Added green leaves, then pressed my rice paper (fuzzy side down) onto the waxed image. Carefully it's slippery, so you don't want to move the paper once it's down. Lightly brayer the wax to make full contact to the paper, then lift. Voila your first print. What I used on the card is the reverse side of the pulled print, more subdued... Trimmed down to leave a 1/8" border all around. Adhered to card front.


Drew a red line border around the rice paper using a Prisma Premier red marker.

I added Liquid Pearls "Buttercup" dots in the center. When dried added dots with a Sharpie marker.

Wrote my word "Poinsettia" using a Nikko G nib and Sumi ink. Not as fine a script as I would have liked - the rice paper spread my ink. Sigh...

Added the red flower button, tying  it with green metallic thread and unraveling the ends. Adhered to card with a glue gun.

On the inside, stamped the quote (Quietfire Design "A Smile is the Best...") using Versafine Black Onyx and clear embossed.

Stamped the large poinsettia (Stubby Stampers), coloring the stamp with Distress minis ("Mustard Yellow", "Barn Door", "Mowed Lawn"), misting with water and stamping. Used a waterbrush to move the color around and dried with a heat gun.

Click on any image to enlarge. Enjoy

And it fits for these challenges:
Simply Create Too  #94  early holiday wishes
All Sorts Challenge  #328 buttons
Little Miss Muffet  #120  anything goes
Trimmie's Craft Challenge  #328 Xmas
Jingle Bells Rock  use your old stuff (everything I used is more than 2 years old except for the quote...)
City Crafter  #278  make a flat card (no extra postage needed) (2nd entry)
Corrosive Challenges  #232 mixed media