James and I fabricated an encaustic heat table so that I can gently heat up the beeswax and apply it with a brush to thin Japanese paper. We used an IKEA KOMPLEMENT drawer inside of which I secured four porcelain lamp bases, lining the whole inside of the drawer with foil insulation. A dimmer switch allows me to control the temperature that is emitted from the four 100 W incandescent bulbs that heat up the aluminum sheet. The energy expended by the bulbs is much less than that which would be consumed by an electric griddle.
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| Inside the heat table |
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Anodized aluminum sheet covering the box (approx. 24" x 30").
Note the dimmer switch to control the heat intensity. |
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Wax melting in tin will be brushed onto the surface of the aluminum
plate and will soak into the paper, making it translucent. |
Wax infused Japanese paper becomes quite translucent, a quality I am interested in exploring with my mixed media photographs. This process will be used as well for the pages of the accordion book (flutterbook) I am currently working on.
