Strangletree , Beeswax , ink and thread on paper , 50 x 46 inches , 2014
Our processes are labor intensive . Meagan coats Japanese paper with transparent encaustics and then draws on the surface with a nib pen by pricking and dotting the surface with ink . The surface is reworked , adding and scraping away ink and wax with traces that are left behind in order for the image to resolve . Siobhán sews into the encaustic coated paper with embroidery thread . The process is difficult and painstaking in that the paper , though strengthened by the waxed surface , is delicate and may tear if worked or pulled too vigorously . The stitches themselves vary in knot type and color so that the drawing slowly emerges from the texture created . With both techniques , the presence of the hand is evident . Combining these techniques with photography presents an interesting intersection of the hand with a technologically replicative medium .