Cold wax painting tools and supplies

After working for with oils and cold wax medium for a few years, I definitely have a number of materials that I can’t live without! You don’t need them all if you just starting out painting in cold wax medium and you can slowly build your collection of tools. As for making textures, you can use anything! Just look around your house and be creative (my 10 favourite texture tools on YouTube).

In this blogpost you’ll find the Cold wax painting essentials you will need when painting with cold wax medium. I have added a link to the Cold Wax Art Supply guide with all the materials and more ‘not really indispensable’ materials (like yummy Marabu Art Crayons, gilding wax, R&F oil sticks and more) at the bottom of this blog post.

Cold wax Medium

I always use Gamblins Cold Wax Medium, simply because it is the easiest available for me. (maybe easy is not the right word, I can’t buy the cold wax here in France so I always have to order it in Holland and ask someone to take it with them when they come by car because it can’t be shipped by pane, at least that is what I am told). It is still on my to do list to make my own!

Bowlscraper or Catalyst Wedge

Since I couldn’t get the Messermeister Bowlscraper here in France, I painted with the Catalyst Wedge for years and it worked out well. I tried many bowlscrapers but they were either too rigid or too flexible. I was so happy when I finally had my Messermeister Bowlscraper and now I can’t do without anymore!

Arches Oil Paper

I have tried other oil and mixed media paper but Arches Oil paper is my absolute favorite. What I learned from the time that I painted in watercolours is that the quality of paper is very important for the end result. That certainly also applies to painting with cold wax medium on paper! I tape the paper to a wooden board to get a neat white edge when I take the tape off.

Wooden panels

When I started painting with Cold Wax Medium, I worked on canvas. That worked well as long as the layers were not too thick but it is not recommended as the painting will be prone to cracking. You could add a ‘solvent free gel’ (more on that later!) that will make your layers more flexible but it is recommended to work on a rigid support, like (cradled) birch panels.

Gesso

I always apply at least two layers of acrylic gesso on my wooden support before I start painting. It let the first layer of gesso dry before applying another layer. Sometimes I add a little marble dust to the gesso to get a bit more texture to start with.

Palette knife

Of course you can use any palette knife you have, you will just have to find out which one you like best. I love this one, which I bought in a local art store and doesn’t have a brand name and is a no. 18

Blue painters tape

I use this blue painters tape to tape the Arches oil paper to a board or to cover the edges of a cradled panel to keep the edges clean. To avoid the tape from tearing the paper when you take the tape off your finished painting, you can first stick the tape on your jeans to remove the stickiness a bit before taping the paper to the board.

Babywipes and baby oil

To reduce the use of solvents in my studio, I use baby wipes and baby oil to clean my hands, my palette, my tools, everything!

Paper palette

I use a sheet of glass, a paper palette or baking paper (or coated freezer paper) as a palette to mix my paints.

Oil Paints

The last thing you need to get started with painting with cold wax medium is oil paint! You can’t use acrylics since they are water based and the cold wax medium contains solvents. You can use water soluble oil paint but they will loose their water mixable aspect when you mix them with CWM because of the solvents. For my underlying layers I often use student grade paints which are cheaper but contain less pigments (so the colours are not as bright) and more binder. That’s is why these paints often take longer to dry, the mix is more oily and needs more wax than the artist grade paints that I use for my upper layers. More on the quality of paints in this video:

A few of favorite colours are:

• Winsor and Newton’s Sap green

• Senneliers Chinese Orange

• Winsor and Newton’s Indian Yellow

• Gamblin’s Asphaltum

• Prussian Blue

• Charvin’s Tropical Green

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me! I would love to see your paintings and connect with you. You can reach me at marinatvb@outlook.com

Cold wax painting materials guide

Download the free Cold Wax Art Supply Guide by clicking the button below!

If you are an acrylic painter and would love to create beautiful textured and layered paintings, check out my FREE class: Kickstart mini-class for cold wax and acrylics!

If you are an oil painter and would love to create beautiful textured and layered paintings, check out my FREE class: Abstract flowers in cold wax & Oils