Beeswax Collage Basics - Pt II

O.k. if you recall yesterday we worked on the basic beeswax collage adding layers of various paper and ephemera.

Today we're moving on to adding non paper items ~ delicate (pressed flowers, skeleton leaves, etc.) and dimensional items.

Beeswax Collage -Pt II

Adding Delicate with Beeswax

I love adding pressed flowers to my collage pieces. I think it gives each piece a natural, vintage, warm, homey feel to them. (I use Nature's Pressed Flowers.) When you work with these you'll soon realize just how delicate they are and can be easily damaged. So here's how I add them to my collage...

1. Warm the area where you will be placing the flower/leaf with the heat gun. You don't have to melt the wax, just make it sticky.

2. Place the flower in the warmed wax. The sticky wax will grab the flower and hold it in place. 3. Dip your brush into the beeswax and quickly apply a thick layer of beeswax over entire flower. You're going to dab the molten wax on the flower...don't brush. This layer of wax needs to be thick so it covers the entire flower but doesn't tear or damage the flower in any way.

4. Continue adding flowers and thick layers of wax until you're finished.

5. O.k....your flowers look something like this...barely visible at this point right?

It's time to get the heat gun out. You're going to heat, melt and expose the flower/leaves. We'll deal with the excess wax in later steps.

Dimensional Embellishments with Beeswax

O.k. now it's always fun to add dimensional bits and pieces to your collage. If you don't add them correctly they will fall right off. Most people just try to push these types of pieces into the existing wax and expect them to stay. Embellishments added this way almost always eventually fall off! Here is what I do...

1. Determine where you want to add your dimensional embellishments on your collage...

2. Move the embellishments aside and add a drop of hot wax to the collage. Immediately press the embellishment into the hot wax. Cover with a thick coat of wax.

3. If multiple embellishments are to be added in one area, quickly press the 2nd piece (in this case a coin) into the hot wax covering the first embellishment. Cover it with a layer of wax.

4. Repeat as necessary. Your embellishments will look something like this...

(coins, bingo numbers, pen nib, key hole, etc.)

5. To expose the tops of the embellishments use something with a sharp edge to scrape away the top layer of wax as shown. I am using a nifty little carving tool but something like an exacto knife, butter knife, or other sharp thin blade would work.

6. Quickly heat the tops of the embellishments to remove any tool marks.

Here are just a few pics of what the collage looks like at this point....

Tomorrow we'll discuss how to handle excess wax from adding the various elements as well as stamping in wax.

I'm so glad about positive feedback I've been getting about the first beeswax post.

And yes to the question so many have e-mailed me with ~ will I be sharing how to use beeswax on other projects.