Experimenting with heavy gloss medium

I came across a technique in some magazine, book, or something I was flipping through. It was for a faux encaustic technique. Well, I was looking for a February technique for the Mixed Media Art group. I tried it and this is what happened:

I used some old pieces that were extras. The pict on top is the before. BTW, I totally wrecked one when I was peeling off the gel medium - so I had to trash it. I started out with 3 and ended up with 2. Anyway, I took some heavy gloss medium and spread it with a palette knife. The technique said to use a thick layer. Okay, did that and let it dry. It came out okay but too shiny for me. BTW, gel medium does not level - which I know makes it a great texturizing product. I put on another thick, even (kinda even layer) and let dry overnight. I came home today and parts of it were cloudy. It was really cloudy especially on the inside part of the stencils. I thought that is might not be completely dry. Let it dry some more and the cloudiness did not go away. Heat gun no good here either. Well, I thought that I could paint over that part and no one would know the difference. It also said in the technique that I could put a layer of matte gel medium over it so it would not be so shiny. Well, I ended up with a cloudy mess! When it was completely dry, it was still cloudy. It was nice and rubbery now. So, I started picking at it so that I could try and salvage parts of it. I picked and I picked. Some of the background came up, but that was okay. I picked off enough so that you could see most of the stuff behind it. I used some quin gold and jenkins green fluid acrylic on top. It gave it a great distressed look. The indiscriminate picking gave it great texture. I don't think the end product could be called faux encaustic. It came out pretty good anyway. Would I do this again? Nope.

Well, not one to give up, I am trying another faux encaustic technique with a matte gel medium and paint concoction that looks a lot like natural beeswax. Working on the first layer now. Will let you know how it turns out. If I use it for the Feb technique, you might have to go to Mixed Media Art to find out how I did it. It won't be done tonight. I need at least one more layer. I might more depending on how it turns out. Won't be home this weekend, so check back later.