Applications with Beeswax

That's a pretty prosaic title, but the whole "wax application" I tried turned out to make not a very dramatic change.

I had a paper bag book I'd finished, and wanted to try putting beeswax over it, as a kind of sealant-texture.

 My book is Christmas-themed.  I was afraid if I put wax on the cover, which is mostly felt, it might wreck it; so I didn't.

Cover of book -- has a lot of tea stain, but no wax on it. 

First page I tried putting beeswax on, had this result.  I melted wax pellets in an electric melting pot, and then brushed over the page: 

It made the finish dull, but I sort of liked it... it kind of unified it.... probably the wax surface can be seen better by clicking on the image....

Second try: I brushed wax (equal parts clear pellets and natural) over a photo.

On a photo, wax just looks like crusty wax!  The surface of the photo repells it, so it doesn't sink in.... Even so, I kinda liked the look after while.

The third try was on paper with mica glitter glued to it.  I brushed wax over it.

I will put another photo that shows more of the shine.....The wax did not totally block the mica shine, so that was interesting. 

And the last try, was on embossed white paper -- I brushed wax heavily on some areas leaving others free of wax.

It adds something; and I didn't like that page much to begin with anyway, so it didn't hurt it.

So, that was my humble experiment putting wax on a couple paper surfaces.  Although at first it didn't seem like much,  after awhile I liked the effect -- on a few pages of the book, not a whole book.    And, it makes the pages waterproof.  If not fire-safe.   

Wych Mythe?

I have been working along on an art doll, which is to have a theme of moths.  I have had this idea in my mind for a long time, of the "Moth fancier."  The person who likes moths, and they come to her, by virtue of her liking for books, and clothing, both of which moths like to eat.  I have had a few favorite sweaters succumb to moths before I wised up and got cedar blocks. 

Ok, so I started the doll by sculpting a head, and breastplate, which fit over the neck of a long bottle...

And I cut out some geranium leaves.  I might have to darken those leaves somehow. 

The idea with the geranium is that it provides shade, inside the bottle.  I have noticed that moths really like geraniums in summer, and often fly out of them when I water.  That is, even if they haven't been able to eat the leaves, they like the shade in them later, when they are moths.

Ok that's a lot of backstory, I guess, on my observations about moths; but there's more.  Virginia Woolf wanted to write a novel called "The Moths" and refers to it often in her later diaries, but she later changed it to "The Pargiters"  (The stone-masons).  She never finished the novel.

Also, moths were studied in the 1800s by entymologists ("Moth-fanciers"), because in their change from one form to an entirely different one, moths and butterflies were thought to contain possibly a secret key, to life.....  

Although I have interesting whatnot to refer to about moths, and like them, the doll is going to be about my personal stuff..... transposed (metamorphozed?) into a piece of art.  I hope.

I continued by festooning her with moths, but now I can't figure out whether the moths should be paper, or cloth.  

I made the moths using fake fur with trim wrapped around it, and fabric.  Their antennae are made of silk fringe from a very old piano shawl.  The fabric moths are only about an inch wide.  The paper moths (directly above) are from vintage collage sheets. They are more realistic, but also more cartoony, in their way.  They don't have the softness and texture of fabric.

So much to consider, with an art doll.  Having decided what the idea behind the doll is, I have to find a somehow pleasing way to represent it.... I think if I can decide which moth to use, fabric or paper, that will help me "moth along" on this doll....

Joys of Childhood

                        Joys of Childhood by Gaetano Chierici,  Italian  1878