Choosing The Right Pigments For Encaustic Paints
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 It's All About The Research.
When it comes to pigments, Enkaustikos is dedicated to
selecting artist grade pigments that are most suitable for encaustic
painting. However, pigment selection isn't an easy task. In fact, it's
not just a matter of picking out our favorite colors, a lot of different
factors must be considered. We do plenty of research and testing on
pigments before making our final choice to ensure we can provide our customers
with high quality, professional encaustic paints.
Yellow Pigments...Not All Are Suited For
Encaustic!
We are often asked for Hansa Yellow encaustic paint
and it provides a great example why research is so important. While Hansa
Yellow is a beautiful, transparent yellow and extremely popular with oil,
acrylic and watercolor artists, it should never be on an encaustic artist's
palette. Every artist considers factors like tinting strength and light
fastness when selecting their colors but, encaustic artists also have to factor
in heat stability. Keep in mind that your colors will be heated typically in
the range of 150 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there will be times
when you may inadvertently overheat an area with a hot air gun which could
cross the 200 degree barrier. Consequently, encaustic artists must be
concerned with the stability of their pigments under every possible
condition. We do not use any of the Hansa Yellows because they are
simply, not heat stable. Hansa Yellow Light PY3 decomposes at 225 degrees
F and Hansa Yellow Medium PY73 is even lower, it decomposes at 140 degrees F.
Therefore, if you were to heat up Hansa Yellow Medium, as soon as your wax
paints liquefy at 150 degrees F they will have already begun to decompose.
Decomposition means that the color undergoes changes and that beautiful Hansa
Yellow may turn green. Colors mixed with Hansa Yellow will also
experience this color shift. The other factor even more important to the
encaustic artist is that prolonged heating of Hansa Yellow pigments above their
threshold leads to the release of harmful gases. Therefore considering
these factors, Hansa Yellow pigments are not suitable for encaustic use.
Our Bismuth Yellow Is Different.
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the other hand, a great example of proper research is our Bismuth Yellow pigment. In fact, over a year ago, we found and added the eye-catching Bismuth Yellow PY184 to our color palette after
conducting extensive research and testing. Bismuth Yellow is a brilliant
yellow, high performance pigment which offers excellent light fastness and heat
stability (572 degrees F). This is the perfect yellow for sophisticated color
mixes. It is a semi-transparent pigment with a high tinting strength. It is
also ideal for creating beautiful glazes. As you can see, our color
line is based on pigment research. We also utilized a state-of-the-art
milling system that shears our pigments to their finest particle size which
brings out the true personality of each pigment. You will find that our
paint is rich, creamy, and vibrant thanks to this advanced technology. As
you select your Hot Cake colors, you can feel confident that you are buying
high quality encaustic paint.
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Thanks again for your interest in our encaustic products. We encourage you to visit our website to learn more about our products, company, and encaustic painting itself.
Sincerely,
The Communications Dept.
Enkaustikos! Wax Art Supplies
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