15 Wax Layers

This weekend I completed 15 layers of the clear wax medium on the piece. You can see by the second photo that when the wax is still warm it has a milky look to it, but when it cools and hardens, it is a little more clear, but not completely clear as the layers get thicker and thicker.



A friend not familiar with encaustics asked me why I don't just pour all the wax in I need at one time. The piece is stronger (more resistant to cracks and chips) if each layer is painted on, fuse to the layer below with a heat source (a heat gun in my case) and each layer is patiently constructed. Painting the wax on is not the hard part... at this stage. The fusing takes a little bit of time (approximately 20 minutes for each layer).

I did all these initial layers of clear medium wax to build up the depth and thickness of the piece. My next stage will be to begin the layers of color-pigmented wax and begin the actual construction of the composition.

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