Encaustic Fusing Tools

There are many different tools used in hot wax encaustic painting. Of all my heat tools, I find I use my small encaustic irons and encaustic art stylus tools, the most. Encaustic as an art form covers many different styles and techniques of painting and the tools used vary widely. Heat tools work well in combination with each other. I find that the hot plate, encaustic heat gun, irons and stylus each serve different purposes in creating a piece of artwork. The wax I use is a ready-to-use encaustic medium supplied by Michael Bossom here in the ...
Read More

There are a variety of ways to finish the edges of an encaustic painting The edges of encaustic paintings/panels can be treated in a variety of ways. Some artists mask the edges, and then remove the tape and paint them in acrylic or chalk paint.  Shou Sugi Ban is another option. Finish panel edges with Encaustic Medium and the iron It is also possible to cover the edges with encaustic medium. An encaustic iron, in combination with the blowtorch, is a great tool for this. Recently, I created a large body of work on panels that were ...
Read More

Fusing is important when working with Encaustic When painting with encaustic, one needs to fuse the first layer of wax to the substrate and then each subsequent layer needs to be fused to the layer below. The artist will fuse the layers of wax with either a heat gun, an encaustic iron and/or a blow torch. Sometimes I use all three on the same layer, depending on the texture and surface I'm going for. Choosing the right encaustic fusing tools: Fusing Encaustic with a Blowtorch The Blowtorch is such a great fusing tool for encaustic because it ...
Read More

It's funny how, once we have seemingly mastered the basics about working in Encaustic, we forget how challenging they were to learn. I'm speaking specifically of using heat guns with encaustic. You experts out there may be smirking to yourselves, knowing, as I do, that 'mastering' a tool/device is an occasionally ephemeral glory, sometimes dematerializing before our very eyes, putting into question our own supposed abilities as artists!! The use of the heat gun can be a fickle, sometimes frustrating, sometimes fantastic thing to grow accustomed to. At my Encaustic workshops, I always introduce its use by ...
Read More

Waxing On:  Encaustic Exploration Encaustic, by its nature, pulls us–as artists, into new territory. This is one of the aspects of it that I love. There is a sense that the medium is always at least one step ahead of us, gesturing playfully to “Check this out!” or “What would happen if…?” At the beginning of my exploration with encaustic, I was not surprised by this, as with any new medium, the possibilities feel endless. Now, ten years later, I marvel that I’m still being pulled into trying new things. Now I am just as (if not ...
Read More