Encaustic 3D Playing House: Moldmaking, Wax and Found Objects with Bridget Benton

Come play house with me! We’ll start with scrap wood cut into rough house shapes and then embellish them with collage, chalk paint, found objects, and your own cast materials. We’ll layer them with wax-based encaustic paint for even more texture, and add on any final touches to create whimsical, one-of-a-kind creative homes! Students will learn not only mold-making and basic casting, but also how to use scrap wood as a starting point for encaustic. I can guarantee that each student will have the opportunity to work on at least two houses, but based on the scrap wood in my shed, we should be able to do make even more!

Bring your favorite found objects and bits of nature, and you’ll learn tips and tricks to make reusable molds that capture intricate detail and then learn to successfully cast them using different materials – including encaustic-friendly paper clay. You’ll also learn different methods for incorporating your cast objects into your encaustic pieces! Shells, small metal objects, little fossils, and even pine cones work well.

Enough mold-making material is included in the class for you to make molds of 3-5 objects that average 2” square in size – and you’ll have access to enough casting material to make multiple casts from each mold. And yes – not only will you be able to cast multiple items with your molds, you’ll take the molds home with you to use again and again.