Oil paints. I prefer artist's grade Winsor & Newton. Try different manufacturer's to see which ones you prefer.
Arches Oil Paper. This is what you paint on. An alternative is Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) or hardboard (also known as Masonite). Both are sourced locally.
Painter's Tape. Can be found locally.
Cold Wax. I either make my own* or I use Gamblin's Cold Wax Medium
Gray oil paper for mixing palette or large (12" x 18" x 1/4") piece of glass.
Set of steel palette knives with wood handle or if just starting out, go inexpensive and order plastic.
Bambu BBQ skewers (to write and make marks).. Located locally
Newsprint...Located locally. In Boquete see Mandarin.
Aguarras (Odorless mineral spirits, Boquete-style). Use to clean hands, tools, to thin paint and to clean paint palette at the end of a session. A more natural, and more expensive substitute is Citrus King's Orange Oil. Call the contact phone number at the bottom of the page.
Paper Towels
Optional:
• Stencils • Mark makers such as: forks, dentil tools, paper towels, brillo pads, whisk broom -- anything you can think of that will make a mark. • Raid your kitchen drawers and check out your local hardware store!
*: RECIPE FOR HOME-MADE COLD WAX
Recipe #1: Orange Oil Equal parts encaustic medium (containing 8:1 to 8:2 beeswax to damar resin) and Citrus King's Orange Oil. Melt encaustic medium. Add Orange Oil. Stir. Turn off heat source. Let cool. After about one hour, a soft, waxy mixture is ready to be spooned into containers.
Recipe #2: Linseed Oil Equal parts encaustic medium (containing 8:1 to 8:2 beeswax to damar resin) to cold pressed Linseed Oil or Safflower Oil and Odorless Mineral Spirits (Gamblin Gamsol is a great solvent). Create a double boiler. I use a large tuna can with water inside a sauce pan with water on a burner. Place glass jar with encaustic medium inside the tuna can. Bring water to a slow boil and allow the wax mixture melt. Turn off heat. Remove glass jar, set aside and add the other two ingredients. Remove tuna can with hot water in it and set beside the glass jar. Place glass jar (with the now-hardening 3 ingredients) inside the tuna can that is NOT on the burner, but has still-hot water in it. Stir until all ingredients are liquid again. Remove from tuna can and set aside to cool.
Note: 2 LIQUID ozs. each of the medium, linseed oil and OMS creates roughly 4 to 4.5 ozs VOLUME weight.