Useful Tips For All Encaustic Painters Out There

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Encaustic painting is different from other forms of art, but that doesn’t mean that a beginner can’t produce some good pieces without some effort. What’s important is to understand that when you paint intelligently and using the proper techniques, encaustic painting won’t consume a lot of time, nor will it seem like a task that only the best of the best can handle.

With that being said, here are some useful general tips that can help you make your painting work both easier and more efficient, while also saving you some money spent on getting your painting supplies:

Prepare the Medium

The painting medium is made of a mixture of molten beeswax beads and one of either castor wax or damar resin. You can attempt to make your own medium, but if you don’t have much free time you can also buy pre-made medium or at least the medium mixture without pigments added to it. Doing so does save you a lot of time that you can invest in your painting itself instead of on initial preparations.

Choose A Good Surface to Apply the Wax

A good encaustic painting surface needs to have two essential properties: it should be rigid enough to hold the wax in place, as well as being slightly porous to be able to absorb the pigmented wax without the risk of it falling off the surface. Some people do recommend pre-heating the painting surface in order to help the first layer of flax to properly cling on to the surface. Go here http://www.encausticsupplies.com.au/  for more information about cheap art supplies.

Melt at the Proper Pace

Layers of wax applied after the first one need to be melted separately using a heat gun or blow torch to avoid them separating from each other. When using your heat gun, take care to fuse at an appropriate speed: too fast and you won’t melt the wax enough, too slow and you will turn the wax into a dripping liquid.

Find A Supplier

Not every art shop out there carries the tools required for encaustic painting. You may find some general tools like brushes or art frames Sydney, but for other things, it is better to find a shop that is dedicated to supplying encaustic painters. This way, you should be able to find things like wax and pigments at much lower rates, mostly due to being able to buy them in bulk if required.

Work in a Safe Environment

Since you will be dealing with heating equipment and a lot of hot, molten wax, make sure you perform work only in areas with proper ventilation. Wear a mask to avoid contaminants to get inside your nose and other parts of your respiratory system. Be careful not to spill wax all over the place and especially on your body.