Photo Encaustic Mark Making Tools

Permission to go Rogue. 

Oh the tools…..it’s a toss up between the kitchen store or the hardware store. They are equally wonderful when thinking about mark making.

There are no rules here. So if you are waiting, this is your permission to go rogue. Whatever you can find or think of to make a mark on your wax is fair game. Think dental tools, door scrapers, broken combs, pottery tools, chains, tin foil, metal screens, cookie cutters.  One of the simplest (and one of my favorites) is tin foil. I just take a piece and scrunch it up and either press it into warm wax or rub it over the surface to create lines in a haphazard fashion.

Sometimes it makes sense to warm the object on the hot plate first, such as in the doughnut shaped cookie cutter–and sometimes it makes sense to pound the object in using a hammer. Again, there are no rules here. Use your imagination.

My favorite though has to be the mesh screen. It’s probably the tool that I use most often. You can press it into the wax to create a great checked pattern (and then fill those marks with color). You can hold it about 6 inches off your substrate and run your brush over it to create a spatter or you can brush wax on it and slap it onto the substrate for some unique patterns. All from one little scrap of mesh.

I have to admit I have not ventured into making any of my own tools. I’m thinking bolts glued to a board in a pattern that will allow me to create some really nice indentations. Yes, I think that could work really nicely. I most definitely will have to try that.

Oh yeah, also on the ‘to do’ list is to find some antique metal print making blocks and see what can come from them.

The ideas are endless.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. What are your favorite mark making tools?

Please pass this along to any of your friends who might also be interested in photo encaustic.

Be well….be creative,