Awhile ago I did an encaustic mixed media piece created with Crayola and acrylic paint. Though I liked the way it turned out I thought it might be even better toned down a bit. I decided to go back and make it less abstract. The first step was to gather all my tools.

DIY Encaustic Art Tools

All you need is above and they are easy to acquire, household tools I used to melt wax and crayons for encaustic art. Since these are household used in encaustic painting, you will have to be careful to monitor the heat.

  1. Small glass jar or empty aluminum tea candle
  2. Coffee mug warmer or tea candle oil warmer
  3. Crafting iron
  4. Toothpick or small scraper such as clay tools
  5. Wax paper or Parchment paper

With those basics I was able to warm blues and greens then smooth them over the crafted canvas.

.Dollar Tree oil/wax burner .Small glass bottle of Crayola melted crayon

I mentioned in the original entry that the painting is on Viva Paper towels. Let me explain; the paper towels were layered with wax then gesso and Mod Podge until I had a nice surface.Paper towel pieces were sometimes dipped in wax before applying.

For the painting itself I either dipped towels in wax or poured then smoothed out the wax using several different methods.

One method of applying wax was to heat it on the paper towel then add it to the painting. For this method, I put the wax and towel between parchment and heated it with the iron. Once I had the desired effect I applied it to the painting.Iron, paper towel, wax and clay carving tool

Each working layer was allowed to dry before adding a light acrylic seal.

good strong canvas

The painting is wrapping up quickly. I’m working on the very last layer by adding details with a white acrylic pen. The final result will be a mixed media painting that is solid, bright and ready to be properly displayed.

So we went from this

Encaustic Rise - original before make over

to this.

Encaustic Rise RevisitedI rebuilt the canvas using the alternating method described. I applied melted wax directly or used sheets of that wonderful, cloth like paper towel and sealed it all up! The canvas is much more even. Though there are many gains by revisiting Encaustic Rise, there is a little lost as well. As I said, I liked the original because it had a wild look to it. The figure seemed almost like cave art but her background was unorganized. It had to be redone. In the new we’ve gained brilliant blues and rich burnt orange that dances with yellow and cranberry. The color stands up, alive!

I have a tiny few final touches for Encaustic Rise then she will again appear in my Etsy shop. She’ll be just on time for the next sale theme which will include all encaustic items.

See you where the sun drips,
Faith

Update: Due to health issues, Encaustic Rise will NOT be ready for the encaustic sale. My apologies.

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