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Author: Andrew_Gott, Contributing Editor
| Making Encaustic Medium
I fell in love with encaustic paintings the first time I saw one hanging. There was just something about the work- The luminosity, the transparency, the brilliance- It was unlike anything that I had ever seen before. I knew I had to try it- and once I did, I was hooked. The expense of ready-made encaustic paints and mediums can be a bit prohibitive, though. So, I decided to start making my own. It really isn't that difficult, and it costs a lot less than buying it does. Besides that, it is actually kind of fun! |
 | First of all, Let's take a moment to look at the different kinds of waxes available to us, and what is best for different applications. There are a lot of different types of waxes out there, but for our purposes, we only need to look at two- Beeswax and Paraffin.
Beeswax is of course a natural product. It is, of course, made by bees! It is the most popular wax used in encaustic painting, and will be the basic material used in the encaustic medium that we will be making later. It can be used as is, without modification, but we will make a few changes to it that will make it easier to work with and more suited to use as an art material. All beeswax is not the same! Natural beeswax right from the hive will have a golden brown color to it, and a lot of impurities, such as bug parts, plant parts, etc in it. It is filtered to remove the impurities, and then further filtered through smaller and smaller filters to remove the color. Pure beeswax is a translucent white color. The color can also be removed by either chemical or solar bleaching, though wax that has been bleached chemically may yellow again later. Beeswax also comes in a variety of different forms. You can get it in huge blocks, smaller 'ingots', shaved pieces, or pellets. Though they are a bit more expensive, I really prefer the pellets, as they are a lot easier to work with. I use a cosmetic grade, white, filtered wax almost exclusively. It runs about $10-$15 a pound, depending on where you get it from and how much you order. To the left, you can see the pellets side by side with a 'block' of filtered wax. Note how much cleaner the pellets are. Paraffin wax is a petroleum product. It is much harder than beeswax, and must be treated differently, as it is prone to cracking. It can be used for artwork, but generally you will see it reserved for more sculptural pieces. One big advantage is that it is a lot less expensive- $1 - $3 or so a pound. There are other waxes out there, but for the most part they are only used in encaustics as additives. We won't even bother with them for now. |
 | You don't need much to make encaustic medium- The basic 'stuff' is made from Beeswax, and Damar resin. The damar resin comes in crystal form, and is actually hardened tree sap. You can get it from larger art supply stores. I want to stress that damar resin is not the same thing as damar varnish, and the two are not interchangeable- You need damar crystals.
The picture on the left shows some Damar crystals, in two forms that I have found them in. The 'stuff' in the bottle is more expensive, but has fewer impurities in it than the bulk stuff does. here are a few of the crystals on the scale ----> |  |
| Here is what you are going to need-
Materials- Beeswax Damar Crystals Supplies- A Double Boiler Thermometer- I use a digital, but a candy thermometer will also work Pans to pour the finished medium into Something to stir with We should probably touch on safety a bit here before we proceed. It is CRITICAL that you use a double boiler when you melt the wax. Beeswax has a flash point around 470 degrees or so, and at NO POINT should you allow the wax to come anywhere near this temperature. If you do, it will burst into flames, spattering hot flaming wax all over. Water boils at 212 degrees, and takes a long time to get much hotter, so the double boiler will give you a nice safety blanket to work with. Make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy- splashing water on the fire will only cause the wax to spatter, worsening the problem. Also, the materials that we are working with are not really all that toxic, but it is still best to reserve the tools used only for encaustic- And never try to cook with them again. You won't be able to get all the wax off- ever- so do yourself a favor and stop by the thrift shop to pick up some pots and pans that you can 'dedicate' to encaustic work. Stainless steel is the prefered material, as it is non reactive. Keep in mind that you are going to be dealing with hot wax that WILL burn you- probably badly- if you get it on your skin. It also sticks while it cools- so it will stay right one your skin while it burns away. Be close to a source of cool water, in case you need to get to it in a hurry! Also, wear proper clothing- Long pants, long sleeves, etc. |
| The process is relatively easy. You melt the wax, add the damar, and pour it into individual pans to cool. The recipe that I start with is one part damar to eight parts wax- This is a starting point, but you can experiment to get the ratio that works best for your 'style' of painting. The more damar, the harder the wax will be in the end. Adding more resin also raises the working temperature of the medium a little bit. Don't add too much- as the medium will be brittle. I usually use a gram scale to weigh out the materials first, and have them ready to go.
Notice that I am using a mix of pellets and block wax here. |  |
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