Welcome back to Tea with Tammy, Episode 2. Today we’re doing some mark making on our dried tea bags. I’ll be using the humble circle with India inks and alcohol inks. You could use watercolor or if you’re going to put them in an art journal, you could use acrylic paints. Just find things around the house to make marks! Most important, just be creative and have fun!
Encaustic Art Blessings Project
I am starting a new project called Blessings. I am going to do a video each week documenting my process. This is my first video so please be kind!
The cutting with an X-acto knife was much more difficult than I was expecting! I got them all completed (a little wabi sabi) but I love the first marks on each of these.
Just a little background about how I chose black alcohol ink for my lettering. In order to use encaustic medium on a piece, it needs to have an absorbent ground.
The illustration board is absorbent, but if I were to start my lettering with acrylic paint that substrate would no longer be absorbent. Alcohol ink is still absorbent and you could also use india ink, charcoal or even watercolors as an underlayer before you add the encaustic wax.
If you didn’t want to use illustration board, you could use a cradled wood panel or even a piece of raw recycled wood. You could use a piece of watercolor paper but it would need to be adhered to a rigid surface. Wax is heavy and it would weigh down a surface that is not rigid.
Start your own mixed media project! Use the supplies that you have on hand to make your first marks. We’ll start next week with our first technique.