Encaustic for Dummies

Hey there, you know, "encaustic" is a pretty cool word. It's a way of creating art that's been around for a long time. When you use encaustic, you melt some wax and mix it with pigment to make paint, and then you apply it to a surface like wood or canvas. It's kind of like using a hot glue gun to make a design, but with wax and color instead. The wax hardens as it cools, so your design is all nice and solid.

There's also a different definition of "encaustic" that's related to ancient Greek and Roman art. See, back in the day, people used to use encaustic to preserve and decorate their paintings. They'd layer the wax and pigment, and then they'd heat it up to make it all stick together. It was a way to make sure their art lasted a long time.

So, that's what "encaustic" means—it's a way of making art with melted wax, and it's also a technique from a long time ago that uses wax to preserve and decorate paintings. It's a really neat way of creating and preserving beautiful artwork!