Shellac gives different patterned effects depending on the amount of time it is allowed to dry. Wet shellac ignites and burns. Before trying a wet shellac burn with encaustic please read the safety precautions for using shellac with encaustic.
This is not a controlled burn. Lighting your panel and standing back as demonstrated here, the artist is not in control. Learning how to do a dry shellac burn is recommended.
The video below demos a wet shellac burn I did. Here I demonstrate for you a step-by-step process for doing a wet shellac burn on an encaustic painting.
How to do a shellac burn on encaustic
- I started with raw pine board (it was cheaper than birch)
- Primed the board with encaustic gesso
- Drawing on the primed board
- First coat of clear encaustic medium over the drawing and around the figure
- Finished painting (fused and scraped)
- Now head outside
- Clear Shellac (stir it up)
- Pearl Ex powdered pigments (I used silver and blue)
- combine Shellac and Pearl Ex powder in little plastic cups
- Have a fire extinguisher handy
- apply to painting with a foam brush
- light and stand back
The effect is subtle but exactly what I was looking for.
Video: Wet shellac burn on encaustic demo
Have you tried burning shellac on an encaustic painting?
I would love to hear about your experience with shellac and encaustic, please add a comment below.
I wish I knew where you could get the tinned shellac as in this video, I can’t find it anywhere. I’m in the UK. Thanks.
Have you ever tried pigmenting the shellac with india ink and then lighting it?
Very informative video..thanks for doing it..:)