Beeswax for Dinner?

“What’s for dinner, wifey?” My husband was getting hungry. It was already 7:30 p.m., half an hour past when I normally start to make dinner, and I was still cooking up a painting.

“How about Beeswax à la Maison with a side of resin?”

Straining beeswax on the stove.

I couldn’t resist. I was at it again, turning the kitchen into another disaster zone. This time, though, I was on a roll… literally. Another artist told me how she used rollers to create her gorgeous water-based abstracts. With the small scale, I could see how that was manageable. I wondered if it could translate into encaustics – at a large scale – and whether the rollers could take the heat.

I scoured the aisles of Home Depot and Lowes but all I could find were synthetic rollers. I chose one with a short nap for smooth surfaces, probably meant for latex paint. I feared the rollers would melt in the wax. I also found a restaurant supply store and bought some drip pans. This is a messy art.

As I painted, I made sure the wax didn’t get too hot by alternating between the stove and the trivet. I didn’t want to end up with encaustic soup spiced with plastic or bits of nap material. So far, the rollers are holding up. I’m pretty excited about this. Who knows, I may even be onto something…