TECHNIQUES of Encaustic Art    Return to HOME PAGE of www.encaustic,com     Visit one of our sponsor sites   
Iron, Stylus & Hobby Crafts Methods Assemble a mini hotplate using the encaustic painting iron Hotplate Techniques Zone Hot Air Methods Zone Finer Art Approaches for Encaustic work
DEVELOPMENT
IRON & STYLUS
IRON AS
HOTPLATE
HOTPLATE WORK
HOT AIR WORK
ARTISTIC
WORK
ONLINE PROJECTS
Scraping the encaustic art wax blocks to clean them ...

The quickest way to clean the dirty buildup of other colours from the faces of your wax blocks is to scrape them with a knife edge.

BEWARE ! a sharp knife works better than a blunt one and it is possible to cut your self if you are too eager or careless, so work with total concentration when you do this.
When wax blocks are applied to the iron or stylus they can easily collect colour from others and soon become a bit grubby. It is virtually impossible to avoid, but it is very easy to remedy.

Get a short bladed sharp knife, like a penknife or vegetable knife.

Hold the block carefully and firmly then scrape the edge of the block with the blade, similar to how a new potato is scraped clean.
Continue this process, drawing the blade carefully along the surface of the wax block, until the dirty coating is removed.
Switch to the other surfaces that need cleaning and repeat the process.
If you get lots of shavings then you can always reuse them in a new piece of artwork
At last the wax block colour is cleaned and pure again. Now you can continue using it in the sure knowledge that it is not tainted by other hues. This can be especially important if you are working in sky areas of landscape.
        GO TO Go to the index for encaustic art products OVERVIEW
Arts Encaustic Ltd, Glogue, Pembrokeshire SA36 0ED UK
  Tel: +44 (0)1239 831401               info@encaustic.com