beeswax part 3

Today I want to show you what happens to photographs when you play with beeswax.

I have these photos cropped to a smaller size so I'll be able to dip them into my mini crock of melted wax.

They're 2X2, 4X3, and 4X4.

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Before dipping, I sand them with sand paper.

For these photographs, I've sanded them all differently and to varying degrees.

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This one had the edges sanded and then I did a swirl motion overall.

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Next I drop the photo into the melted wax.

I let it sit for about a minute.

This allows the paper to come to the same temperature as the wax and I get a finer coating of wax that way.

Otherwise it comes out blobby and white with a thick wax.

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I use tweezers to pull it out and I let it drip for about a minute.

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Next, I use my bone folder to scrape of most of the wax.

When I do that, it takes some of the photographic coating as well and I get an even more distressed effect.

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Here's a closeup of what I mean:

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You can repeat the dip and scrape method as often as you want to.

Repeated dips and scrapes give you an increasingly altered effect.

Here are my final photos after dipping and scraping 2 times:

Let me know if you're trying this at home - or if you have any questions.

I some more fun with beeswax posts planned for later this week too.