Wax Painting with an Encaustic Iron

Originally written by the late Thea Haubrich and published on April 4, 2011. Updated with additional information on wax painting using an encaustic iron.

The encaustic iron and stylus are wonderful tools for encaustic painting, but they have also been used to create wax cards. Pigmented wax blocks melt directly on the iron or stylus nibs and are applied to cards or paper—no additional fusing required. The encaustic artistic community generally considers this a craft rather than fine art.

Iron wax painting demo

Youtube has many Encaustic Iron Wax Painting Tutorials

Using the Encaustic Iron with Heat-Resistant Sponges

If you’re unsure how to use heat-resistant sponges and scrapy texturing tools with the encaustic iron, this free tutorial includes step-by-step instructions with images.

This slideshow tutorial covers:

1. Cleaning your sponges – Keeping tools in good condition for repeated use.
2. Sponge painting techniques – Drawing patterns, stippling, stamping, and dragging wax.
3. Using the rubber-tipped scrappy tool – Creating texture and fine details.

Use your arrow keys to navigate through the slideshow | Click to view larger

Tutorial: Using the Encaustic Iron with Heat-Resistant Sponges:

1. Start with heat-resistant sponges and scrapy texturing tools.
2. cut coarse orange sponges with a pair of scissors
3. cut the fine white sponges with an exacto knife
4. use your encaustic iron upturned as a hot plate to heat the wax
5. use a spare piece of card to create a small palette of coloured wax
6. use the sponges and rubber tipped scrapy tools as shown to create different effects

Wax painting with an encaustic iron and stylus is a fun and accessible way to experiment with melted wax for creating cards and decorative designs. While some categorize this technique as craft, it offers an enjoyable introduction to working with wax. Try these techniques and discover the creative possibilities!