Entertaining with encaustic wax

Informative and inspirational
A recent demonstration by Phil Madley that introduced our members and guests to encaustic wax proved to be an inspiring treat as well as a tonic. Phil has a background in design and graphics and originally got into encaustic wax after visiting a craft fair years ago where he bought a starter kit. 

Warmly witty throughout, Phil talked  about the kit needed to work with encaustic wax and 'waxed lyrical'  about the importance of using the right kit when you start out and then experiment with alternatives once you’ve mastered the essentials. 

Getting started
A basic kit consists of a small iron, hot stylus, hot air gun, a range of attachments such as mini iron, circles, squares, rectangles, plus a scriber, kitchen paper, and a duster. 
Phil buys his wax from Wakes Waxes which offers 48 different coloured waxes, each costing about £1.40 per stick (price is correct at the time of publication). Sometimes people are tempted to heat up standard wax crayons or candles instead of using specialist wax, but when that type of wax is cold it loses elasticity and becomes rigid. If the card it’s used on bends, the brittle wax will break and your artwork ruined.
He advises utilising a special coated card with a shiny surface when using encaustic wax, which doesn’t absorb the hot wax. You can also use board and MDF too. Prepare the MDF with a coating of gesso to create a surface barrier preventing the hot wax from penetrating the material. 
Ensure you set the iron to the right (low) temperature when you start off; iron temperatures vary from one to another so some trial and error is to be expected until you find the optimum temperature for your equipment. 

Range of attachments

Essential equipment

Mark making
Apply the cold wax to the warm plate of the iron, by rubbing the stick of wax onto it, similar to the way you’d use pastels. Bear in mind that the lighter the colour of the wax the runnier it is when put on the surface of the card.
So, the wax is warm and ready to go, what next? Phil showed us how to first convey the wax by ‘ironing’ it onto a piece of card. While the wax was warm and manoeuvrable, he then started to make patterns in the wet wax with the iron. He used the edge (side) of the ironing plate to make straight marks/lines in the wax, creating flower petals (as in the image at the top of this post), and more abstract designs by working the iron back and forth producing Spirograph style patterns.
Phil made this technique look easy, which is a testament to his excellent skills, as are the art that he creates using encaustic wax.

Applying wax to the iron plate

Ironing, with a difference!

The result

Using the the pointed tip of the iron produces dots to represent the stamens in a flower, while the attachments make marks such as small circles or triangles to represent whatever you like! The scriber tool can be used to scrape away wax as another method of making marks.
When happy with the pattern created, you can use kitchen paper to polish the picture, or to tone down the colour. This produces a glossy finish, and the picture can also be buffed with a duster.
It was inspirational to see the colourful beauty of the art that Phil achieves using encaustic wax and since the demo at least one of our members has had a go it!
Our thanks to Phil for opening our eyes to the art of the possible, and keeping us all engaged in a different, informative and entertaining demonstration.

To find out more about Phil Madley and his art please take a look at his website here.

Landscape in wax