Artists who integrate books with encaustic have found that wax imbues their work with translucency – layering – obscuring – strengthening – luminosity, and adding a potential of content as skin, fog, time, mystery and more. In this workshop, we will experiment with the integration of varied bindings, sculptural book forms, and the potential of altered books with both clear wax and molten pigmented waxes. Participants will learn varied ways to incorporate text, mixed media layering, image transfer and the use of stencils for repeated imagery. Encaustic based monoprinting, collage, assemblage and molten painting are all fair game for the expression of content within dynamic book forms.

This workshop will begin at WSW with an investigation of varied papers and their capabilities, the designing and preparation of two or three book projects and an inspirational PowerPoint of international book artists who incorporate encaustic into their works. On Wednesday afternoon we’ll take our work to R&F Handmade Paints to finish the week off with a thorough hands-on exploration of pertinent encaustic techniques and to develop and resolve our integrated artists’ books.

Join WSW in collaboration with R&F Handmade Paints as we work with two of the most fluid two-dimensional art media. The first two and a half days of this class participants will work with Patty in the WSW intaglio studio. Emphasizing a quick and free pace of working, she will cover a wide range of both additive and reductive monoprint methods such as painting with ink and R&F oil sticks, use of paper stencils, Xerox transfer, cliché verre, chine colle and embossing. We will play and experiment.

After lunch on Wednesday we will gather up our monoprints, say goodbye to WSW, and head over to R&F Handmade Paints to work with Cynthia. Using the printed work as “elements” that we will combine using encaustic, via layering and composing new images to create the completed encaustic images at R&F Handmade Paints on the last two and a half days.

Join WSW in collaboration with R&F Handmade Paints as we create handmade paper and encaustic works. The first two and a half days of this class will be held at WSW in the papermaking studio, where students will work with cotton, abaca, and flax fibers. Once the basics are mastered, we'll investigate the potential of hand papermaking. We will create papers using a variety of hand papermaking techniques: layering, imbedding, translucency and opacity, stenciling, pulp painting, and embossing.

After lunch on Wednesday we will travel to R&F Handmade paints where we will use these handmade paper elements as starting points. This session will begin with an introduction to basic encaustic techniques. Then students will create deeply layered collages by working directly on the handmade papers or mounting the handmade sheets on panels. We will be saturating, bending, burnishing, dipping, staining, transferring, drawing, and carving into this natural wonder.