Page 31 - Creating Whimsical Characters Using Simple Wood and Paper Forms, Wire, Paperclay, and Encaustic Medium

You can start with the tools and materials you have and add

items as you need them.

The tools and colors you need will be dictated by what you are

trying to paint. Painting smooth surfaces is like painting on any
smooth paint surface. But painting small characters with lots of

delicate details adds a new set of challenges.

• How do you hold them while you’re painting them and fusing the

wax?

• How do you paint them and not loose the details under a thick
layer of wax?

• How do you get a rich variety of colors without putting on

multiple layers of wax?

After several failures and a few successes, I finally developed the
following process. But first, we need a volunteer.

Meet Tuft. Tuft is a chess piece sculpted on a small curvy female

wooden people form. As you can see, he has lots of feather details,
a distinct

beak, webbed
feet, sharp

eyes, and a
distinctive

tuft on the
crest of his
head. Now

we just have

to make sure
we don’t lose
any of those

lovely details.

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