Choose Surface for Encaustic Painting

Video Transcript

"It's your painting surface that you have to think about next and you can paint with wax on so many different surfaces. From wood to mirrors to paper stock to watercolor paper and every surface is going to change the look of the wax. If it's absorbent, it's going to soak into the material and give a matte look to the wax. And if you have a shiny card stock, this particular card stock is called "Cromalux" which is like an English cardboard and it works perfect with wax; this is going to give quite a shiny look to the finish product, and it's also a great surface to work on because it is, in size-wise, particularly I mean is because see, it is about the same size as the iron. So that when your loading the iron with wax and you're going to start painting, you're not going to run out of wax very fast. You will run out, but not as fast as if this size was much bigger. So I always tell my students to start with an A6 size, that's a European sized paper, which fits into a 4 x 6 photo insert frame. And it's a very nice way to present your finished piece because like--then it can be in a little photo insert card with an envelope and in a little plastic sleeve like this which makes it a great little piece to market in a gallery. And it's a great little item that even if you're not in a gallery--I've taught some people this class method and they've gone out to the hairdresser the next day and they've sold all the cards they've made. So, it's a great little idea to market your first piece of art."