Fused: Encaustics in the Middle School Art Studio

Debora Supplitt M.Ed./M.A. Art Ed.

November 2, 2012

The Encaustic Art Studio Set up

5 stations for 25 students

Items at each station:

Electric strip and heavy duty extension cord per station.

Encaustic heat trays

30 natural hair paint brushes include one(1) 2” Hake brush for clear medium

Heat Tool (paint stripper)

1-Medium loaf pan for encaustic medium (Wooden Clothes pins one per pan)

3-Small loaf pans for yellow, red and blue encaustic medium

1 pound of pre mixed encaustic R & F medium with damar resin.

1 each yellow, red and blue small encaustic cake

1-Roll of paper towels at each station

Wrap your tables or put down splatter paper

Place wood or silicone hot pads

under heating element

The set-up

Getting Started YouTube:

• This video uses Encaustikos products 9:04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHt-x0yIVXg&feature=related

• There is also R & F products 2:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UFAgD-oqlc

Pancake griddle used as a heat tray.

Keep tray temperature below 200 degrees

Clean up after yourself!!!

Roll the brushes on the warm tray and

wipe off excess medium with a paper towels.

Clear the medium loaf pans off the

heat tray add a few drops of clear medium

to thin out the mess.

Wipe down heat tray with of paper towels.

½ the class is set up for heated medium and

encaustic fusing,

½ the class is for adding oil pastel and colorHEAT SIDE

COLOR SIDE

90 - 8x10 cut and sanded birch wooden

panels for 75 students/3 classes

CAUTION: WOOD BURRS MAY NEED TO BE SANDED OUT

Place name on the back with a Sharpie marker

Step one:Warm the board up

After heating place one coat of clear

medium on the substrate and fuse.

Ventilation station fans pointing out the

opened doors. Take the sticky out of the hot

board by cooling the board and medium

down in front of the fans ventilation fans.

School Smart or Pentel oil pastels melt the

best and hold their pigment when fused.

Create a unique background

Add clear medium to first color layer and fuse

Add background color with oil pastels

Fuse the oil pastel into the board

Note if you don’t fuse the oil pastels into the board the next layer of clear medium will pick up the background color.

You then have to stop, fuse the oil pastel layer again and clean the clear medium brush with the picked up color.

Never put the dirty colored brush back into the clear medium.

Transfer toner image site

• http://lexireidstudio.com/

• http://encausticartist.com/techniques/image-transfers/

• YouTube Encaustic Transfer: 5:18

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKcbAq7JJBM

Place transfer image face down rub the

back of image with a spoonCut out transfer image

Burnish with spoon

Place on warm medium

Rub paper off with warm water

Add color with oil pastels and gently fuse

Color Copies of Fayum Mummy Portraits

used for a reference.

Black can be a bully and take over the picture.

Start with your lightest color first

flesh, white colors or yellows.

Use a potters needles or an

Exacto knife to scrape out errors,

runs or smears.

Creative 7th Grade Encaustic Designs

Creative 8th grade Fayum Mummy Portraits

Embedded images

School mascot,

The Timberwolf

image embedded in encaustic medium.

Completed Fayum Mummy

Portraits

7th & 8th Grade

More 7th & 8th Grade Creations

A Egyptian Greco-RomanFayum Mummy Portrait

multi-cultural display