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I am a relative newby to photo encaustic. I am currently working on a piece in which I have embedded an image on tissue paper using an iron. There is some cloudiness over part of the tissue image that I would like to eliminate. But I am concerned about either making the cloudiness worse or scraping the tissue paper. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Welcome to the wonderful world of photo encaustic:)
To prevent cloudiness I would start with thinner layers rather than a big thick layer. You can gently scrape some of the medium back using short light strokes with a razor blade or scraper. You can also choose to go over the cloudiness with a color and upon fusing that color will drop into the medium. Both of those techniques will help.
Good morning,
I have been asked to do a demonstration this Friday showing how photo encaustic is done. I will be outside, my concern is that the temperature is suppose to be 90 + degrees. I personally would rather be inside but how will the encaustic adhere with the temperature so high. What are your thoughts.
Thank you,
Donna
The problem with working in such warm temperatures is that after fusing the substrate doesn’t get a chance to harden between layers and you can end up with a hot mess. Make sure you fuse fast and don’t linger with loads of heat on your substrate otherwise it will be unstable when you apply your next brush stroke. Have fun with your demo:)
Hello, Clare, and happy Tuesday.
I’m still struggling with calligraphy ink and its successful application. I’ve found that the most common ink, Dr. Ph. Martin’s, can vary too much. I think it sits on the shelf and separates. A more reliable brand, Winsor & Newton, is so dilute it doesn’t register when layered with wax. The densest, most beautiful colors come from the Speedball brand. But — aagh! — it’s acrylic based. I didn’t notice this until I’d used it in many pieces. Is there any way that an acrylic calligraphy ink can be sustained with encaustic? I’m using it on stamps and also as a light color wash over the wax.
Thanks so much for offering your expertise.
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen, I’m afraid my answer would be no. Others might tell you differently. Acrylic will cause a barrier to the wax properly fusing. You always run the risk of it being an issue down the line. It can seem to be fine for now and 5 years from now delaminate. Or if its small amounts of acrylic you could be OK. The problem is you never know. Sorry.
I recently purchased a waxing iron used for waxing skis etc. To use for smoothing my encaustic. Unfortunately I get lines and striations from the holes in the bottom. Can this not be used for encaustic or am i doing something wrong? Thanks
That is the nature of the beast with the iron unfortunately. So what I do is then hit it lightly with a torch and those striations should disappear easily. It’s a 2-part process for me. First the iron to level it and then the torch to make it super smooth.
Thank you!
Any tips for keeping your brushes used for encaustic painting from curling up or how to straighten them when they’ve gone wavy? Thank you!
Sheila, I’m not sure what kind of brushes you are using. I don’t seem to have a problem with the hake brushes that I use going wavy. For my medium and white brushes, I just leave them in the container and let them harden. For color brushes that I’m not using anymore I clean them with paraffin wax so they can be used again. If it’s a color that I use all the time, I tend to let the wax just harden to put back on the griddle for the next time.
I have two questions:
1. How many layers of wax should be applied to the wood base before embedding the tissue paper?
2. How can you clean encaustic paintings if they are dusty, e.g. with house dust?
Many thanks !
Hi Susan, there is no magical number for layers of wax before embedding. You need to have enough wax there so it can fuse through the paper to the top layer you put on. I would suggest a minimum of 4 thin layers….but of course you can have 10 or 20 layers before you add the tissue print. For house dust I would just use a feather duster or something similar…..anything light that won’t leave marks on the piece.
I have an Epson P700 (wide format) printer. It is one that is widely used for creating photo-encaustic paintings. Is there any setting on this printer (which I believe you have as well) that can eliminate/reduce those awful “drag” lines? I follow all the very clear suggestions about preparing my tissue to the backer sheet but am wondering if there may be a setting on my printer that I could change possibly by using less ink. I’d appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!
Yes. Look at setting your platen gap as wide as you can. This is the distance from the print heads to the paper. And less ink is always helpful as the tissue expands with the moisture of all the ink being laid down, so the less ink you lay down the less swelling and the less drag marks. I don’t know if your printer has a draft mode….that can be helpful as well.
Good Morning Clare –
I’m really excited to participate in your Tissue Paper and Photo Encaustic workshop this coming weekend! I am wondering if we’ll have access to software to crop and re-size our photos while we’re in class?
Thank you!
Val
Absolutely. I work with photoshop and I’ll have that available.
Perfect, thank you!
Good Morning Clare from sunny Cape Cod!
I am working on using 3 dimensional in my work. Nothing heavy
Any suggestions?
Thank you Michele
Hello back from sunny (and hot/humid) Minneapolis. I’d need to know more about what you are thinking and mean by 3-dimensional. This could mean so many things I don’t even know where to begin. Are you embedding 3-dimensional materials or are you working on alternative substrates that are 3-dimensional?
Clare, I have two unrelated questions. First one is that one of my plain medium containers that I put on my griddle got dirt in it, black specks and a few hairs. How can I clean this batch of wax? Can I melt it and filter through cheesecloth? Second question is about making lines. I want thinner lines in the wax that I’m currently getting. I’ve been carving a groove in the wax, but when I go to fill it in I get way too much wax and even scraping it back yields a thicker line that I want. Any suggestions? Thanks so much, and I look forward to our Ireland trip! Kathleen
Looking forward to traveling with you as well Kathleen:)
If your plain medium is hard and can be flipped out those contaminates will often sink to the bottom and you can just dig them out once the wax has been flipped. The hairs may float though, so yes, strain it through a cheesecloth or I use a really fine paint strainer with a coffee filter in it. It tends to take out all the bits and pieces.
What are you using to make the lines? You could use a needle pottery tool (or I guess a nail would do the same) and carve thinner lines. These might be so thin that wax wouldn’t fill them in very well, but you could fill them in with R&F pigment stick or oil paint. This will give you really thin lines:)
See you soon. Steve and I were just looking at the weather this morning. Pack a winter coat along with a hat/gloves/scarf:)
Hi Clare,
(1) Can we use HP Envy 7858 printers with tissue? Is there a guide that walks us through the settings so that we can use it with the tissue paper?
(2) What do you use to paint the sides of the canvas ? Do you do that as a first step or last step?
(3) Can poster color paints be used along with encaustic paints?
Hi Nisha, I don’t keep up on all the printers, their settings and their inks. Essentially what you are doing in fooling the printer into printing on tissue paper. Your paper needs to be completely on top of the carrier sheet…..and for best results I’d make sure that your tape doesn’t wrap around the side. If it’s a printer with a print head that moves across the paper as it prints you’ll want to make sure your tape is on the sides as well so it doesn’t get caught in the print heads. Otherwise, it’s a bit of trial and error.
I paint the sides of my boards beforehand so the paint is going on bare wood rather than waxed wood.
What are poster color paints? Tempera? You can use many different paints as a base as long as it doesn’t have any acrylic in it. You’ll have to look and make sure you are not creating a barrier for the wax to fuse to the substrate.
Hello Clare!
I’d like to, eventually, attempt a rather large piece, maybe 3′ x 6′ or so.
First, do you have a recommendation on a good substrate(s) to use, which won’t ‘break the bank’?
Secondly, would you recommend a ‘pour over’ at first, to get started with layering, or going right into brushing the wax on? How to start the process on something this large, and proper tools?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you.
That is definitely going large. For substrates this large I have them made by a handyman so I really don’t have a good source for purchasing them anywhere. I’d recommend finding someone local who can make substrates for you. You certainly could do a pour over to get started, but they tend to be thick layers and I prefer to start with brushing the wax on. Neither is right or wrong. I do have a video on working large that might be helpful to you. https://photoencaustic.com/working-large/ There are all sorts of good nuggets of information in this video:)
Hi Clare-
I will always remember what a great experience Wyoming was with you!!
Question: Do you know if using encaustic wax on plaster or fired clay works (as a substrate)? And is there anything specific I need to know about doing that? I was thinking of using, along with the wax, fabric or tissue also?
Have you ever done this or can you give me any advise? Thanks, Annie
Hi Annie, yes Wyoming was so much fun that year. Encaustic can certainly be used on plaster (if it’s porous and doesn’t have acrylic in it) and bisque fired clay body. As long as the encaustic is able to be fused in to your substrate you are good. Same principles apply to any substrate as wood. First layer needs to fuse with the substrate and each additional layer needs to fuse to the layer below.
HI Claire,
I have several “failed” photo encaustic pieces (cradleboard substrates that have photographs affixed by white archival glue, wax, and pigment). I think that I can repurpose them by melting off the wax and then belt sanding the surface. Do I need to sand down to bare wood or just enough to get a smooth surface on which to paint, apply wax or a new photograph?
Thanks,
Keith
Hi Keith. If you want to re-glue an image down again….you are going to have to sand off to a smooth surface that will accept more glue (i.e., no wax residue) and can start again. You don’t need to get it completely perfect. If you want to use that photo again, just melt the wax off and add more wax. If you want to use the substrate for a tissue paper print or a photo transfer that has layers of wax and pigments built up first and the photo becomes more of a middle or top layer…..than just add the wax and keep going. There is nothing wrong with having a photo that is obscured as a base layer. I actually had a student once who wanted a piece of herself in her work so she started each piece with a self-portrait and completely obscured it with wax and then embedded a tissue paper print on top. No one (other than her) would ever know that is under all the wax and pigments.
Hello,
Can or must an encaustic painting be polished?
I have heard that it becomes dull in the first few months.
How does this work on the brush technique or other delicate structures?
Thank you and a Merry Christmas to all.
Susan
Hi Susan, you can but you don’t have to polish your work. I personally don’t like a high-shine finish so I never polish my pieces and just leave them once finished. But my work is textural and uses a lot of pigments and not a lot of medium as the finish. It’s the medium that tends to get the bloom. After completion of an encaustic piece of art, there is a curing process of a few months. During this time moisture will work its way to the surface and may cause a slight haze called “bloom.” If your artwork looks dull or cloudy it can be buffed gently (firmly but not overly vigorously) using a soft cloth. If the bloom reoccurs repeat the buffing process. After two to three times, the bloom should stop occurring.
You should be able to gently buff the piece. If it’s fused properly buffing shouldn’t interfere with the brush technique or other delicate structures.
Merry Christmas to you as well:)
Hi, Clare! I am having a bit of anxiety about removing the excess wax that has dripped over the painters tape along the sides of my panels. I tried to remove the tape but small chunks of wax from the work came off with it. I now have a number of panels with wax-dripped tape along the sides. I’m not sure what to do without ruining more pieces. Thank you so much for your help!
I get it Maureen. I stopped using tape a long time ago for this very reason. If you have the Kemper pottery trim tool that is a triangle….heat this and run it at the top of the wax dripped edges to get a nice clean edge. You can also heat those edges with a heat gun and run the tool over them….whichever is easiest for you. Get that top edge nice and clean and you’ll then be able to rip the tape off without the chunks ruining the top of the work.
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