I’ve been asked where is the best place to buy bee’s wax in order to make encaustic paint. Look at candle making supply stores as they have the best prices. I have used 2 online stores and even with shipping costs, it is cheaper to buy online, especially if you are buying wax in bulk (25 lbs. or more). Twenty five lbs. isn’t as much as you might think if you are serious about working with this medium. Two places to start with are, Candles and Supplies.com or Stakich.
Once you cook the basic medium (see previous post), pour the untinted mixture into aluminum foil lined pie tins. You can buy old pie tins at Goodwill. I line them with aluminum foil as the paint will often stick to the metal and it is easier to peel off the foil when the mixture cools. Also, when I pour the mixture, I filter it by pouring it through several layers of tarlatan (used in printmaking). Tarlatan fabric is similar to a very stiff cheese cloth. The bee’s wax has small amounts of debris in it and this can be annoying. You can use old tuna cans or small metal fry pans to mix pigments into the medium. I keep these warm on electric, heated buffet trays or a griddle, another Goodwill purchase. To add color, I pour the wax paint medium into flexible (silicon) baking molds and stir in dry pigment. This way I have lots of colors on hand. The paint, with or without pigment, can be used without pouring into molds first – keeping it warm in a electric crock pot – but it’s nice to have a supply of colors and basic mix ready to melt at any time.