My Studio
Here I share a little tour of my studio to help you get ideas for setting up your own encaustic work space.
Encaustic Paints These are a few of the encaustic paints on my tabletop next to the pancake griddle I use to melt the wax into a liquid form.
My love of salvaging includes this very old red table I found in an antique store. IKEA drawers live under it for storing wax and tools. Good ventilation is imperative when working with wax so, note the fan in the window sill. I turn it backwards so it pulls air from the room. Always have the window open even in winter.
Many items live on the window sill to give me inspiration. The shaving cream brush was my grandfathers. I use it to dust off papers. There is a beeswax cake in the shape of a hexagon with an embossed bee in the middle that reminds me of the source of my art-making wax. I collect antique stamps and letterpress stamps. A forty-five RPM record insert brings back many memories and reminds me of the music that was a balm for my teenage years. The shape is inspiring and it will find its way into monotype pieces in the future. My childhood glass teddy bear bank lives on the sill and wooden alphabet blocks that I now use as stamps in printmaking. Magnolia seed pods that I used as reference for a linocut and other dried natural materials including a wasp nest are there. Of the most significance, however, is the Cranberry Tea box. When I had my first show at Hollins a young student bought eleven of my art pieces while I was hanging the show. She went to an ATM machine and withdrew money in twenty-dollar increments and rolled it up and put it in this box to give me as payment. Her faith in my work astounded me then and has never left me. It was my first show and most of the pieces sold at the opening and shortly after the rest sold. It was an “ah ha moment.” My artwork had something to say about the world and it had resonated with people. I kept the tea box to remind me of this.
I use clear plastic containers with lids that I purchase at the Dollar Tree store. I store my art-making stash in them and label them with my Martha Stewart label gun. They sit on top of a metal file drawer set that I traded artwork with another artist for. It houses printmaking paper, decorative papers, collographs I have made, etching plates, linocuts and stamps.
Inspirational words have power!
This room is a 10’ x 10’ space. The size of some people's closets. I use every inch of it.
My table top is covered in a sheet of glass so I can scavenge bits of wax for reuse. It gives me the opportunity to put cards and inspirational words underneath it.
On the floor are some high end wallpaper books that a local interior designer gave to me. They were destined for the landfill and he was very happy they would have a new life in my artworks. I use them in most of my printmaking and encaustic works.
My father had a horse when I was growing up and this curry comb that I found in an antique store reminds me of my childhood. I use it as a mark-making tool in the soft wax. Cookie cutters, copper scouring pads, spatulas, sewing tools and any manner of items make great mark-making tools.
Scrap Paper Collograph • This colograph is made with slivers of scrap wallpapers glued down to a plexi plate. In the bottom left corner is an alphabet letter stamp made with peel and stick letters and a round wood substrate—both from Michaels. In the bottom right corner is a cloth fabric flower shape glued to a substrate.
Handmade Stamp • It can be lots of fun making your own stamps. I have used various flat objects and glued them to cork coasters from the Dollar Tree, wood substrate cubes and knobs from Michaels, and wood flooring samples and Corian samples from Lowes. Some are scrapbooking items, others are laser cut wood patterns from Michaels. They sell craft foam with a peel off backing so you can cut your own shapes or use the shapes they sell.