Get ready to paint...
You've made your encaustic medium and mixed up encaustic paint in a variety of colors. Now you've to to get together tools and set up your space.
TOOLS: A variety of simple tools are used in the process.
- A heating surface to melt the paints. A fancy encaustic palette works well of course, but household electric griddles work well too. I found my favorite one in a yard sale
- Brushes must be natural bristle or hair - synthetics will melt in the hot medium. I use a variety, depending on how I will be painting. Cheap 'chip' brushes from the hardware store are fun the work with as they are cheap, you can cut and trim them to suit, and the low bristle density is a good carrier for the thicker melted wax paint. Natural hair burshes are good for laying in a smooth surface. Bristles help create texture. Experiment
- Scraping and carving tools are a necessity! Clay carving tools, woodburning tools, wood carving knives and tools, old dental instruments, and special encaustic scraping tools are all good for experimenting
Fusing tools are required to connect the layers to each other. I primarily use a propane torch and occassionally use a heat gun for spot fusing. Encaustic irons are also helpful.
Another necessity is ventilation. If open doors and windows aren't an option a ventilation unit is needed like the one I use at right. |
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Play around with textures! There are interesting bits everywhere - just look around for things that will leave impressions when you press them into into warm wax.
I keep a big supply of papers - handmade and commercial - stored away by color so that I can easily find what I want to incorporate. I include paper I've made and dyed myself, other handmade papers, old newspapers, candy wrappers, tea bags, etc. I also use bits of photographs I've taken. |
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Set up your space.
Keep the palette/heating surface, brushes, and paints on your dominant-hand side. An exhaust system provides ventilation. |
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Supports: Encaustic painting is done on a rigid surface, typically cradled wood panels. Unfinished wood surfaces take the encaustic medium well or the surface may be coated with specially formulated encaustic gesso. Occasionally, for an interesting background, I wrap the panel in hand-dyed fabric and layer with encaustic medium. The important thing is to have a support that 'grips' the encaustic.
paint, fuse, scrape, paint, fuse, scrape, paint, fuse
It involves multiple repeated steps, but the many layers provide many chances to tweak your individual creative process
and when you are done...
Knowing when you are finished is sometimes the hard part. Can't help you with that. At some point you just have to stop, sign your work, and frame it. Signing encaustic is tricky. You can scratch in your signature and then go over it with oil pastel to embed color, or you can use a pencil which will work on wax. I often use a stabile... Occasionally I will also sign by embedding a tiny sea shell (my family name was Swedish for 'seashore')
After you are all done, polish the piece with a microfiber cloth or a soft, old t-shirt. An encaustic surface sometimes dulls over time as it cures. Just simply polish the surface again.
Ok. So now you are finished. You need to know how to store this precious piece. Keep it stored in a reasonable temperature. Below 20 degrees it may crack, above 150 degrees it'll soften and start to melt. So don't keep it in your car in the parking lot or in your unheated garage or storage unit. I've kept paintings over my fireplace, exposed to a south facing window with no problem but I wouldn't advise hanging it directly in front of a heating source. If the bees wouldn't like it, neither would your painting.
After you are all done, polish the piece with a microfiber cloth or a soft, old t-shirt. An encaustic surface sometimes dulls over time as it cures. Just simply polish the surface again.
Ok. So now you are finished. You need to know how to store this precious piece. Keep it stored in a reasonable temperature. Below 20 degrees it may crack, above 150 degrees it'll soften and start to melt. So don't keep it in your car in the parking lot or in your unheated garage or storage unit. I've kept paintings over my fireplace, exposed to a south facing window with no problem but I wouldn't advise hanging it directly in front of a heating source. If the bees wouldn't like it, neither would your painting.
