1. Encaustic
‘The Heat is On’
beginning lessons for the high school
art program
Maureen Caouette
Director of Arts, City of Fitchburg
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Fitchburg High School Art 3 Students &
Art Teacher - Erin Feeney

2. WHY WAX?

3. It all started…
 With the Greeks over 2000
years ago (Hellenistic
Period)
 The Egyptians –
Painting, Mummification
practices, highlighting on
marble statues & Mummy
portraits

4. In the last 100 years…
Jasper Johns

5. SAFETY FIRST
 • The skillet temperature should not exceed 200°. At
250°, encaustic fumes become toxic and will start
smoking. Use a thermometer to check that the
temperature gauge of the skillet is accurate. Ideally, 150
-175 degrees works well with Enkaustikos wax. This is
the wax with the lowest melting temp that I have found
so far.
 • Good ventilation is necessary. Open a window and use
a fan facing away from the work area to draw any fumes
away from you.

6. Vocabulary
 Encaustic:
 Medium:
 Gun:
 Palette:
 Transparent:
 Fuse:
 Warm:

7. Getting Started
 6 years ago in a Provincetown
Gallery on Cape Cod
 Started taking workshops Fall
’08
 Collage – 5 yrs
 Painting -3 yrs
 Attended the 2011 & 2012
International Encaustic
Conference Provincetown,
MA
Love nest

8. With bees wax only
 Torn papers
 Lace
 Pressed flowers
 Dress patterns
Three sisters

9. Mixed Media: photo transfer, painting, lace
monoprint, paper collage
Stoneroots

10. Painting
Sheltered shore

11. Heat sources
Embossing guns
 Avoid using heat
guns.
 Use ‘Embossing’ guns
– cheaper & safer
 Price: $10 each

12. Fusing with embossing
Guns
Embossing guns are on the
counters, students have assigned
stations.

13. Cheap natural bristle
brushes

14. Brushes
 Brushes can be
Hake which are
wonderful but $$ for
HS & once used
they are only for
wax from then on

15. Tools
 Clay tools
 Quilting or tacking
iron
 Small loaf tins
 Dental tools
 Repousse tools

16. Heat Source
 Pancake Griddle
Price: $19.00
 Electric pan
$2.00 from second
hand store
Small tins

17. Griddle is the best

18. Aluminum palette
 Expensive and not
necessary for High
School setup

19. Temperature
 Keep heat between
150 to 175degrees F
 Use a small surface
thermometer

20. Substrate: birch panels or-
Culled wood is found at the
back of most Home Depot
stores and is $.50 a panel!

21. Gesso, bare, or
collage
 The substrate must
have a porous
surface for the wax
to grab onto it
 Leave bare
 Encaustic gesso $$
 paper

22. Collage technique with
high school classes
 Use decorative
napkins
 Tissue paper
 Permanent
makers

23. Using decorative napkins

24. Adding medium on to
napkin from the center out
 Students peel off
all the back layers
of the napkin,
leaving the very
thin top layer
before they gently
rub it on to the
warm wax

25. Ephemera
 Pressed flowers or
greens or petals
 Tissue paper
 Letters
 Sketchbook
drawings
 photocopies
Detail

26. Adding glitter
(on student brought it in as her ephemera)

27. Collage
 Napkins
 Lace
 Artist papers
 Dress patterns
 Dried flowers
 Buttons

28. Combining painting
technique with collage
 On natural board
 Dress patterns
 Printed shopping
bag
 lace
Cut two

29. Photo Transfer
Haystack
21 in London

30. Photo transfer
technique
Fun to do but it takes time
and pressure.
Place a toner based photo
copy onto slightly warm,
smooth wax and spoon or
burnish the photo into the
wax for a good 15+
minutes. Wet the back of
the copy and gently rub the
paper off.

31. Transparent Photo Collage
on youtube –Maureen Caouette -Alternative process photo exhibit
Women, Waiting, Watching Detail

32. Photo Transfer with torn paper
overlay plus wax painting
The Keeper

33. Getting started
 Students
experimented with
painting with the
wax, learning to
fuse each layer and
how much heat to
use. Start small!

34. Adding medium over wax
droplets

35. Working together
Students need to work collaboratively for
safety reasons and as a studio habit.

36. Adding the base coats
Brushes stay at the wax tables in
the wax on the griddles

37. Painting with Wax
 I shared with the
students the time
and experiments
that I went
through to
transfer my plein
aire painting style
to an encaustic
painting.

38. Fusing each layer

39. Using Fabric

40. Photo transfer

41. ‘just breathe’

43. Detail
Preplanning plays into the
composition regarding the
layering and positioning of
materials. Students are
reminded to step ‘Away
from the Artwork’ to do a
formative, peer to peer
assessment.

45. Lines were made by drawing
onto one ply tissue and then
fusing the tissue into the wax.

46. So, Why Encaustic Art?
 New & engaging!  Ethereal
 Historic &  Layers
Cultural  Multi-medium
 Artistic Practice  Message Maker
 Technical  Response
 Studio Habits

47. 21 Century Skills:
st
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Communication
Collaboration

48.  The 4 Cs—
 Essential Skills All Students Need to Succeed
 Creativity
 Discovering novel ways to think, learn and do
 Critical Thinking
 Using original ideas to solve problems
 Communication
 Expressing thoughts and feelings effectively
 Collaboration
 Working in partnership with others toward
 a common goal