Encaustic Medium is an essential component of encaustic painting. Beeswax on its own will remain soft; the addition of damar resin raises the melting temperature and will allow the beeswax to cure and harden over time. R&F's medium is composed of 100% USP beeswax and damar resin. Medium is typically used to create transparency and extend encaustic colours, while it can also be used for mixed media and sculptural applications. Encaustic Medium is the encaustic paint without pigment.

This high-quality, easy-to-use medium is made from 100% USP beeswax and damar resin. It raises the melting temperature of beeswax, allowing it to cure and harden.

• High quality and easy to use
• Made from 100% USP beeswax and damar resin
• Raises the melting temperature of beeswax, allowing it to cure and harden
• Used to create transparency and extend encaustic colours
• Can be used for mixed media and sculptural applications

Beeswax is the chief component of our encaustic paint. The beeswax has been decolourized by mechanical filtration rather than through bleaching, which breaks the wax down. Filtering the wax is a gentler process that makes it less reactive to pigments than chemical bleaching. The wax comes granulated, making it easier to measure and melt. You can use beeswax as the prime ingredient, along with damar resin, to make your own encaustic medium. Beeswax can also be used on its own, but without the resin, the surface will remain soft, as is the nature of the material.

Damar is a hard natural resin from a family of deciduous trees growing in the East Indies. In encaustic paint, damar resin is the most common ingredient for hardening the beeswax and raising its melting temperature. Damar allows the wax to be buffed to a higher, more translucent surface and helps prevent blooming in the wax. To use the damar in making your own encaustic medium, it must be melted in the beeswax and strained. You can make Damar varnish by dissolving the resin in turpentine.