Blue Tree

Blue Tree
wax resist (wax crayon and India ink) on leaf from 19th century patent book
9 x 5 1/2 inches

The altered books group posts monthly techniques. I hadn’t done wax resist in years–and never with India ink–so I thought I’d try it. I used RoseArt crayons, which aren’t as heavily pigmented as Crayola, but they are waxier, so they might be better suited to resist.

Blue Tree
wax resist (Portfolio water-soluble crayons and India ink) on leaf from 19th century patent book
5 1/2 x 9 inches

I also did one with Portfolio water-soluble crayons. That was only almost as stupid as it sounds. The top layers of crayon washed away in areas, but I can go back in and replace them. What’s more interesting is the way the ink bloomed. There are circular spots in the top drawing, where the ink dropped onto the paper. In the bottom one, there are lines, where I used the dropper to squeeze swathes of ink along the edges of the paper. In the scans, those areas read as tears, though close up, it’s obvious that they are not.

You could use other colors of ink. Watercolor or acrylic paint mixed with a small amount of water might be interesting, too. Pretty much anything that flows well and is water-based should work.