where beeswax meets creativity.
Encaustic Techniques You Can Learn in the Studio
Below are the four encaustic methods offered in my 2-hour and 4-hour sessions. Each technique uses molten beeswax, pigment, heat, and layering—but the creative outcomes are very different. Guests choose the method that excites them most and receive one-on-one guidance throughout their session.
Explore the fundamentals of encaustic painting
Painting imagery—such as flowers, animals, simple landscapes, or shapes—using molten, pigmented beeswax. Encaustic painting relies on layering, scraping, carving, and fusing to build form, depth, and luminosity.
What You’ll Do
- Block in shapes and forms with melted wax
- Build multiple layers of color
- Add linework, carving, scraping, and fine details
- Fuse layers with heat to achieve depth and a glowing surface
- Explore representational, abstract, or personal imagery based on your inspiration
Bring Your Own Inspiration
You choose your own subject—we’re not all painting the same thing.
Guests are encouraged to bring:
- A photo
- A drawing or sketch
- A simple idea or theme
Please email or text your image to Jessie before the workshop so it can be prepared for studio use. Abstract approaches and personal drawings are also welcome.
Time & Detail Notes
- Simple representational imagery can be completed in the 2-hour session.
- Representational encaustic is best suited for the 4-hour Encaustic Studio Workshop due to the layering and fusing time required.
- Guests wanting to work on fine detail or a more complex composition may benefit from combining both options: the Saturday 4-hour session + a 2-hour session for a total of 6 hours of studio time, plus a one-hour break in between (guests may continue painting during the break if they choose).
Best For
Guests wanting to paint recognizable imagery in wax, explore the fundamentals of encaustic painting, or bring their own personal inspiration to life in beeswax.
The Representational Painting Process
Bring Your Inspiration
Bring Your Inspiration
Bring Your Inspiration
Guests provide their own image—such as a photo, sketch, or idea—to use as the basis for their painting.
Guests have the option to transfer the image onto the panel to eliminate "drawing" time.
Learn the Basics
Bring Your Inspiration
Bring Your Inspiration
Discover how to mix encaustic paint, clean brushes and the palette, and get familiar with the tools. Apply and fuse your first layers of colored wax onto an 8×10" wood panel to start building your composition.
Develop Details
Bring Your Inspiration
Fuse the Painting
Refine shapes, tones, and textures using carving tools, brushes, palette knives, and layering techniques.
Fuse the Painting
Care & Safe Transport
Fuse the Painting
Use heat tools to bond the wax layers into one cohesive sheet - the process that gives encaustic its name and the most important step for ensuring a durable, lasting artwork.
Final Touches
Care & Safe Transport
Care & Safe Transport
Step back and take in your work from a distance, making sure the composition, colors, and textures feel balanced. Add any finishing details, refine the surface, and enhance depth, texture, and luminosity for a polished, complete piece.
Care & Safe Transport
Care & Safe Transport
Care & Safe Transport
Learn how to care for your beeswax painting, then have it wrapped for safe travel home. Take a moment to reflect on the fun you’ve had!
Embedded textures with encaustic.
WAX & COLLAGE WORKSHOP: EMBEDDED TEXTURES WITH ENCAUSTICS
Explore the tactile beauty of beeswax collage by embedding paper, string, natural fibers, and pressed flowers into a wax surface. You’ll learn how to color paper with encaustic paint, layer organic materials, and use wax as both a natural adhesive and preservative.
This technique often focuses on tree and floral themes, but your piece will be uniquely your own.
- All materials are provided, and you’re welcome to bring personal papers or fiber elements to incorporate into your artwork.
The collage Process
Paper & Natural Materials
A focus on tree & floral themes
A focus on tree & floral themes
I provide a variety of materials - like paper, pressed flowers, string, and yarn - but guests may bring their own special touches to make their piece truly personal.
A focus on tree & floral themes
A focus on tree & floral themes
A focus on tree & floral themes
For more guided workshops, we’ll explore floral and tree themes, but guests are always welcome to paint whatever inspires them - including abstract work.
Working on wood panels
A focus on tree & floral themes
Working on wood panels
I prep the panels with a couple coats of encaustic and tape the boards so we can drive right into making the art!
Use wax to paint
Embedding into wax
Working on wood panels
Guests will learn how to mix and apply encaustic paint, layering one or two coats of colored wax onto the panel before embedding their collage materials.
Embedding into wax
Embedding into wax
Embedding into wax
Guests warm the wax surface with a heat gun before embedding natural materials, then use brayers, spoons, and other tools to gently press them into place.
Removing the tape!
Embedding into wax
Embedding into wax
In the final steps, we fuse the wax and collage materials together and remove the tape. Guests also learn how to care for their beeswax painting, and each piece is carefully wrapped for safe travel home.
Make wax impressions with fresh leaves.
A dimensional encaustic technique—also called Cavo-Relievo, Italian for “hollow relief”—that uses leaves, feathers, botanicals, seed pods, and natural textures pressed into warm beeswax to create elegant, organic impressions.
What you’ll do:
- Press natural materials into warm wax
- Build relief texture and depth
- Add washes or tints of color
- Use heat to shape, fuse, and secure the forms
Best for: nature lovers, textured designs, organic patterns, and simple representational themes.
Materials & What to Bring
Leaves will be provided, but guests are welcome to bring their own fresh leaves or bird feathers.
For best results, choose hardy, flat leaves with strong veins, such as:
maple, cedar, oak, coleus, ginkgo, or fern.
Seasonal Note
Leaves are seasonal and not available year-round.
This technique is taught in every season, but winter sessions use limited or dried botanicals, feathers, or alternative natural textures depending on availability.
The Nature Relief Process
We use fresh leaves and feathers.
Paint base color the desired leaf color
Paint base color the desired leaf color
For best results, choose hardy leaves with strong veins that can lay flat. Ideal leaf size: under 4–6 inches
Please avoid:
- dry or brittle leaves
- succulent or thick leaves
- anything curled or fragile
Tip: Keep leaves cool, moist, and flat until the workshop.
Paint base color the desired leaf color
Paint base color the desired leaf color
Paint base color the desired leaf color
We paint hot encaustic paint on a wood panel. The color you want your relief (leaf) is the color you paint first. Learn to build up colors and how the wax changes in the fusing process.
Place leaves on top of warm wax paint.
Paint base color the desired leaf color
Place leaves on top of warm wax paint.
We press each leaf vein-side down into warm wax to capture its intricate texture on the surface. Using brayers, spoons, and wooden tools, we gently burnish the leaf to create a lasting impression in the wax.
Cover leaves with encaustic paint.
Add oil pastels to capture leaf's intricate texture
Place leaves on top of warm wax paint.
Paint a thin layer of encaustic paint To remove the leaf the wax must be heated. When the wax is liquid you remove the leaf. around the edges of the leaf. Paint from the inside out to make sure not to get paint underneath the leaf.
Heat and remove the leaf
Add oil pastels to capture leaf's intricate texture
Add oil pastels to capture leaf's intricate texture
To reveal the impression, we gently reheat the wax until it becomes liquid, then carefully remove the leaf.
Add oil pastels to capture leaf's intricate texture
Add oil pastels to capture leaf's intricate texture
Add oil pastels to capture leaf's intricate texture
To highlight the fine details and veins, we rub oil pastels into the wax impressions, then gently remove the excess with olive oil—revealing the beautiful textures left by the natural materials.
Wax & Photo Transfers
A classic encaustic technique using black-and-white toner photocopies (not inkjet) to transfer imagery directly into warm wax. When the paper is removed, only the ink remains—creating a soft, vintage, or dreamlike effect that blends beautifully with collage and color layers.
What You’ll Do
- Prepare black-and-white or color toner photocopies
- Transfer your image into warm beeswax using water and a simple burnishing tool (like a spoon)
- Gently remove paper fibers to reveal the embedded image
- Add paints, oil sticks, ink, or collage around the image for depth and style
Provided Images & What to Bring
Birds, trees, and other simple silhouette images will be provided for beginners.
Guests are welcome to bring their own toner photocopies.
Important:
- Must be toner-based (copier or laser printer)
- Not inkjet prints
- High-contrast images work best for clean transfers
Best For
Guests interested in:
- symbolic imagery
- bold black-and-white designs
- mixed-media combinations
- adding photos or meaningful images to encaustic artwork
The Toner Transfer Process
Select & Prepare Your Image
Select & Prepare Your Image
Select & Prepare Your Image
Choose a toner-based photocopy (black-and-white works best). Trim excess paper and ensure the image has good contrast.
Apply Warm Wax to the Panel
Select & Prepare Your Image
Select & Prepare Your Image
Brush a smooth, even layer of warm encaustic medium onto your panel and gently fuse it so the surface is warm—not hot.
Place the Image Face-Down
Select & Prepare Your Image
Place the Image Face-Down
Position the photocopy face-down on the wax. Smooth it firmly with your fingers to remove air bubbles and ensure even contact. Remember that the image will be reversed.
Burnish with a Spoon
Refine & Add Finishing Touches
Place the Image Face-Down
Using the back of a metal spoon, burnish (rub) the entire image with steady pressure so the toner bonds to the warm wax.
Dampen & Remove Paper Fibers
Refine & Add Finishing Touches
Refine & Add Finishing Touches
Lightly wet the back of the paper with your fingers. Gently rub away the paper fibers in small circles until the toner image is revealed.
Refine & Add Finishing Touches
Refine & Add Finishing Touches
Refine & Add Finishing Touches
Let the image dry, then lightly fuse if needed. Add color, collage, oil sticks, graphite, or additional wax layers to complete the piece.