With full offerings from Enkaustikos & R&F Encaustic, Wet Paint is your
one-stop shop for everything encaustic!
It’s an artist’s dream come true: a paint that is neither wet nor dry, that is almost immediately permanent, that can be reworked years later, that has the historical background to establish it as one of the most durable artists’ materials available. This miracle color is called encaustic. If you haven’t tried it, we encourage you to visit us at Wet Paint to explore this dynamic & versatile medium.
Comprised of pigment, beeswax & resin, encaustic paint is generally melted down from a solid brick form, applied molten to an absorbent substrate, and finally fused with heat for permanence. The wax is naturally resistant to moisture, mold & acid & remains impervious to cracking, flaking or fading over time. Egyptian burial portraits painted with encaustic have survived for more than 15 centuries!
But this is just a basic overview. The process encourages experimentation & revision. The artist can try new techniques & color combinations, as additional layers can be added or removed immediately without disrupting the previous composition. Think of encaustic as a unique fusion of color (pigments in opaque or translucent form), binder (great for collage & for suspension of objects within the wax), & a strong sculptural presence that can be built up, thinned down & worked into for an endless variety of physical effects.
Encaustic provides not only ease of use & unlimited artistic exploration, but also the richness of layered glazes & the lustrous beauty of its enamel-like finish. Taken as a whole, the properties & history of this exquisite medium invite your creativity, and Wet Paint is committed to bringing you the encaustic paints & supplies you need to color your journey. We offer two full lines of encaustic paints – Hot Cakes from Enkaustikos & our veteran line of encaustics from R&F. Between the two, you’ll be able to find the colors, tools, mediums & working properties that suit your style whether you’re a professional or complete novice.
Hot Cakes by Enkaustikos is a ready-to-use encaustic paint line that combines U.S. pharmaceutical grade beeswax & high grade damar resin with the finest artist grade pigment to create 82 beautiful colors. Hot Cakes is sold in resealable & refillable metal tins unique to Enkaustikos; place the tins on your hot plate & you’re ready to paint! The flat bottom of the tin ensures even & quick heating, while the lid keeps your encaustics dust free & easy to store when you’re not painting. Available in open stock colors & sets.
For over 20 years, R&F Handmade Paints has been producing professional encaustics out of the finest materials with a pure love of hand crafting paints. Their line is a showcase of vivid colors as well as endless varieties of tones: mixed colors make up nearly half of their palette! The beautiful new display houses the entire range of eighty 104ml encaustic colors from R&F as well as R&F Pigment Sticks, Ampersand Encausticbord & a host of tools, sets & sundries.
Both Enkaustikos & R&F offer a broad range of waxes, mediums & accessories for the encaustic painter, & each has exclusive products to enhance your painting experience. Enkaustikos has Slick Wax, a solvent free, synthetic wax formulated to clean your brushes & tools between color changes. Named Slick Wax because it “works like a charm”, it is a vital component for any encaustic artist’s safe studio. XD Wax Medium is another notable product from Enkaustikos. It has a higher content of damar resin than regular wax medium, making it thicker in consistency & making the cooled film harder & glossier. R&F produces a proprietary Encaustic Gesso a modern version of the traditional rabbit skin glue & chalk gesso (this gesso creates the surface for Ampersand’s new Encausticbords). The broad range of encaustic tools from R&F includes heated palettes & tools for melting & manipulating your waxy color.
While you’re at Wet Paint stocking up on encaustic supplies, be sure to sign up for Jeff Hirst’s encaustic demonstration in the fall (September 18th)!
Related article: Stax of Wax!
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· Established 1976 · Creative Supplies for Creative People 
