ENCAUSTIC ART HISTORY

Encaustic art is over 2000 years old. The Greeks, Egyptians and the Romans used charcoal, ladles, brushes and pallette knives to paint with. They used pigments from plants to dye the wax. The favourite material to paint on was thin wood. 

Wax paintings stand the test of time. You can see portraits in the British Museum that are still intact and some are believed to be over 2000 years old. All those years ago they would have to carry out a burning in process (encaustic means to burn in) this would fuse the wax together without disturbing the image and was done over hot charcoal. This process completely bonded the painting and is deemed to be permanant unless excessive heat is appplied. Wax melts at 60 degrees centigrade. That is the case for modern wax paintings too.

The modern way is less cumbersome. With the use of electrical appliances such as small irons and hotplates and for drawing and painting in detail  a stylus (which looks like a soldering iron but has a special nib like attachment) we can create lovely and unusual designs.  The stylus is  regulated to keep the temperature right unlike a soldering iron which would get far to hot for the wax. The iron has a special thermostat that stays at a constant temperature, so no cooling down as with an ordinary household or travel iron. For more advanced work hotplates, hot air guns and hairdryers are used and of course paint brushes and pallette knives. 

Encaustic art the modern way......why dont you have a go?

See the Encaustic Shop and the Course pages for information on Starter Sets and courses/workshops. Great idea for an unusual birthday present.

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Stamp use granted by Arts Encaustic International BV

All encaustic designs on this website are copyright Carol Ellis 

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