We started today by putting yesterdays pieces on the table and critiquing them for composition. She then showed us how adding elements can enhance or improve a composition. She thought the black lines on my piece were two big and that I should scrape them down. I collaged in piece of a net onion bag and some horsehair lines. I just love the look of the lines made by the horse hair. Almost everyone in the class loves this piece, but me not so much. I really like a simpler more serene composition. I think changing the orientation to the top one, helps.

Next on the agenda was learning to wrap a board with fabric. I had a nice piece of funky dyed silk that I think Kristin La Flamme might have given me. To wrap the fabric, you put a very light layer of wax on the board and then press the fabric on the board and smooth it and iron it with a Clover mini-iron to adhere it to the wax.

Then, the board edges and back are carefully waxed and the fabric is wrapped and the corners are trimmed and ironed down.

Next, we used a soldering iron like tool to burn marks into the top.

Here is this piece with more wax and some horsehair spirals. The wax was not completely dry so it is still opaque in areas.

Here is a board wrapped with the rusted cheesecloth fabric with marks burned into the surface.

I then covered it with wax and added some pigmented wax and some perle cotton. The wax was not dry on this when I left.

I am enjoying the class so much. I got to have a session with Lorriane and she looked at the encaustic I have done and my art quilt portfolio. She saw a definite relationship with how I approach art quilt composition and my encaustic compositions. That felt good.