Wax as a medium

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Hello All,

You can make a simple mix of beeswax and solvent with dried pigment and paint with it.

There were supposed to be two types of wax painting - encaustic [ melted wax ] and the other
- wax in solvent.

Wax in solvent works.

You can use only wax in solvent as your medium.

It works. I have tested it.

Wax works best as only wax - no oil - no resin.

It will last thousands of years.

Wax can only be damaged by a super high humidity atmosphere and contact with wet soil.
Hope this helps.
Khaimraj

Apologies in advance Cynthia.

[Rochelle Brown]

Khaimraj,

Can you elaborate on that please?
Do you mean that pure beeswax can be used and mixed with dry powdered pigment? If I may ask, What brand do you use? Is there any danger of toxic substances?

For those not concerned with toxic danger, can other mediums be mixed in with wax without causing damage to the painting down the road?

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Hello Rochelle,

Before I say anything please understand I never learned to type in a proper manner and I am very uncomfortable trying to give you a response. So if this comes off very mechanical please excuse
me.

I keep bees and get my virgin wax from the cappings when harvesting the honey crops.

White beeswax will combine with solvent in a glass bottle in the hot sun. Test a small amount first. Remember to cap the bottle. For solvent I use mineral spirits. Turpentine will age with time and becomes resinous. It will also begin to dry poorly.

As above but with dry pigment adding the solvent on top and finally the wax. In the doing, the next step becomes obvious. You need enough wax to bind the pigment. Normally I weigh the pigment and the wax. Usually one to one works. You need enough solvent to get a brushable quality.

Be aware that the paint made takes time to fully harden. Test on a panel. That's the non-toxic way to make the paint.

You can of course use a pan in a water bath. Watch the heat and the naked flame. Don't let your wax smoke.

Use non-toxic pigments.Handle with respect. Practice good hygiene.Breathing mask. Wash hands. Mars Colours. Titanium Dioxide. Calcium Carbonate.
ee Sinopia.com or Kremer Pigments.

Wax works best with wax. See the book - The mysterious Fayum Portraits. Good Luck.

You can also render the wax water usable. See Mayer for more information.

Khaimraj

[Karin Wells]

Cynthia?

Can we back up a couple of posts and begin a new thread on this?

Khaimaraj, can you post a picture of what this looks like? I'm having a problem envisioning it. Thanks.

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Hello Karin,

Apologies.I have no digital image capacity,
but all I described was how to make the paint.

I have no way of knowing how Rochelle intends
to use it ?

Forgot this Rochelle.

For the medium.
Use some pine oil to make the wax plus solvent
more - oily. Only a little.Too much weakens the
binder.
Khaimraj

[Rochelle Brown]

This really should be a seperate thread.

Khaimraj,


Thank you for that detailed answer.
Is it possible to paint on primed canvas or is board a more stable support? Which brand of pigments is non-toxic?
A wax portrait might be very interesting.

[Peter Garrett]

Hi Rochelle:

I can't comment on wax with oil paints as I haven't tried it, but the encaustic technique is kind of interesting to experiment with.

You can use an old electric frypan to keep everything at desired temperature. The pigments mixed with melted wax can sit in small metal cans in the pan. You can use a hot-plate as a palette.

The tricky bit is controlling the paint on the support. Some people use a heat gun from the hardware store to melt bits of the wax on the surface. One of the teachers at my college has refined this by making shaped sheet metal shields that help direct the heat more accurately. I can't claim any expertise in this medium whatever, but like any medium it takes practice. It certainly is different.

Pure beeswax and pigment is probably the most long lasting combination known. The Romans used to coat their ship-hulls with it. I've read that murals discovered on stone walls stuck out in relief from the stone, which had weathered over nearly two thousand years. That's pretty permanent, I'd say. (I haven't seen these walls, so beware the hearsay...)

STARTING in encaustic isn't so difficult, with modern heating tools. Developing skills...well, my dabbling suggests that could be a little more difficult. When your painting melts before your eyes some interesting things can happen.

The controlled accident is a time-honored part of watercolor- so if you feel adventurous....

[Rochelle Brown]

Thanks Peter,

It does sound like a fun idea. One of these days I will have the time to really give that a serious try.

Also it seems that there are people who melt down crayons and use the melted wax as paint. This practice is apparently not toxic.
After asking around I learned that mixing dry pigment with wax IS toxic. I'm sorry if I've misguided anyone and CANNOT recommend wax as a nontoxic medium.

The Ralph Mayer handbook has a couple of index references for wax crayons but when I looked on the listed pages I couldn't find any information on that subject.

[Peter Garrett]

Hi again, Rochelle..

I'm intrigued- how is wax and pigment toxic? Beeswax is edible, and I would think one could choose non-toxic pigments...??

Is it something to do with the heating process? Smoke?

[Andrea Evans]

Hello,Rochelle, Peter, Khaimraj, et al,

I have been reading this thread regarding using wax as a medium. Some years ago, I attended a furniture restoration workshop at Sotheby's Restoration in New York City. One of the classes was on French polishing with Eli Rios. (French polish is shellac dissolved in alcohol.) This involved removing the old finish and freshly applying the new polish. This is then protected by applying a beeswax and turpentine mixture. This is a soft wax that is buffed to a lovely sheen. Sometimes carnauba wax (derived from a plant and a harder wax)is added to the beeswax and raises the melting temperature of the wax. I believe that Johnson's Paste Wax and a lot of the automobile waxes contain carnauba.

I was wondering if I could apply the beeswax/mineral spirits to an oil painting that is thoroughly dry and buff gently. Does any member of the forum do this? I do not see that it would hurt the painting and can be removed with mineral spirits later. Maybe this would give the painting a matte finish. Of course, instructions would have to be attached to the back of the painting for a future cleaning and rewaxing of the painting. I'll just give it a try and let you know.

I remember one of my painting teachers from college saying that he had painted a portrait using a wax medium in his paint. His client placed the painting on the edge of a table, leaning the painting against the wall. The table was moved. The painting dropped to the floor, jarred the canvas, and some of the paint fell off. Could the humidity/heat in New Orleans have had something to do with this?

Perhaps these paintings should be painted on board to support the paint which must be applied in thicker layers than oil. If the wax and pigment is used correctly, it is beautiful and can last for thousands of years. The Greco-Egyptian painters used encaustic in painting realistic funerary likenesses.

Also, art conservators and restorers have used and some may still use beeswax and turpentine or mineral spirits in relining paintings. One reason they did/do is because this is reversible (the wax mixture can be softened later with mineral spirits or warmed and the lining removed from the painting).

Rochelle, is it possible that the painting you saw was done with colored pencil? Was it a small painting? If the colored pencil strokes are built up layer upon layer on a solid surface such as a gessoed masonite panel, it can result in a soft waxy matte surface. Using light sprays of fixative between layers helps to build up more layers. Some artists use a solvent brushed into the colored pencil and this helps to even out the strokes. I know that the painting you saw was indeed special to have drawn you to it.

I apologize to everyone for running off on different thoughts stimulated by your postings.