If you’re interested in painting with encaustics this post will help you get started with the right supplies and tools.
- ENCAUSTIC MEDIIUM is made with filtered beeswax and damar resin crystals. Encaustic medium is available in a variety of forms, as:
- ready-to-use encaustic paints (medium is premixed with colour pigment) in tins, blocks or sticks
- pre-made plain encaustic medium to which you can add oil paints for colour
- raw materials (damar resin and beeswax) to make your own encaustic medium to which you can add oil paints for colour
- OIL PAINTS: If you are using plain encaustic medium you will want a variety of oil paints in your studio to add colour to the wax:
- Do not add more than 25% paint to 75% wax, or you will end up with a wax that won’t harden
- Glazes of colour can be made using a very small amount of paint to the encaustic medium
- Stay away from oil paint with health warnings on the label and don’t use prussian blue (toxic when heated) or zinc white (curdles when heated)
- BRUSHES: You can use inexpensive natural hair brushes for encaustic, synthetic brushes will melt. It is best to get brushes with short handles so they don’t crowd your griddle.
- GRIDDLE OR PALETTE: To melt encaustic medium you will need an Encaustic Palette, Electric Pancake Griddle or Hot Plate. An ideal hot palette is one that heats evenly and offers a refined temperature control.
- BOWLS or TINS: You will also need small metal bowls or tins to melt the medium in. Have a look at your local thrift store for inexpensive baking tins. A Dollar store is also a good source for suitable bowls or clean out tuna tins and re-purpose them to use for your encaustic paints.
- FUSING TOOLS: In encaustic art the artist will fuse the layers of wax with either a heat gun (not a hair dryer), an encaustic iron or a blow torch. Using different fusing tools creates a variety of surface textures. You may be interested to read more about fusing tools on the post: Choosing the right encaustic fusing tools.
- SURFACE TO WORK ON: Ideal surfaces for the encaustic artwork are absorbent, rigid and heat resistant. Suitable grounds include wood, untempered Masonite, stretched canvas or linen, plywood, drywall or plaster, heavy watercolour or printmaking paper and even plexiglass! Do not use a typical acrylic gesso as an encaustic painting surface. Experiment with a variety of substrates and grounds to find your favourite.
- GOUGING/SCRAPING TOOLS Any number of tools can be used for gouging, scraping and incising in encaustic art. Clay tools are ideal as are dental tools, anything you come across with a metal tip can be used. Look around your kitchen and workshop you are bound to come up with some great tools.
- COLLAGE ELEMENTS: Wax is a marvelous adhesive, you can embed just about anything into it, making encaustic a perfect medium for mixed media collage. You’ll want to have a supply of collage elements in your studio.
- SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: Before you begin to paint with wax it is wise to consider ventilation of your studio space and ensure that you have a fire extinguisher close at hand especially when working with collage elements and a blow torch!
Please add any comments or questions. Have fun and please show us your artwork by adding it to our gallery.
Image source: Andrea Bird, http://waxworksencaustics.com used by permission
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Hi Im very new to encaustic and was wondering if you can use a white acrylic paint as a base coat instead of gesso? Thanks for all the great information.
Hi Melissa,
You can read more about gesso on this post – Encaustic Gesso. Victoria doesn’t recommend acrylic as it isn’t considered archivally sound.
Hi Ruth,
Thank you so much. I will buy some encaustic gesso