ART. I.
Preparation of the cloth for painting in Encaustic.
Take any sort of clean linen cloth whose texture is pretty close, soft and even, stretch it upon a straining frame, as you would do an oil cloth, lay it upon a smooth table, the side your are to paint on downwards, then with a piece of common bees- or virgin-wax rub it over and over, till you perceive a good quantity of the wax adhere to the cloth, in equal proportion over the whole.5
Your cloth thus waxed is ready to paint upon if it be fine; if it is coarse, turn it, and with a pumice stone gently rub over the side which is to receive the colours, to take off all the knots and unevenness that might obstruct the free flowing of your pencil.
If you want to paint a picture of any determined size, provide a straining frame, whose inner circumference is equal to the height and width required; that is to say, you musthave two frames, the one to work and finish your picture upon, the other whereon the picture is to go and remain when finished. The first must be of such height and width, as to contain between its inner edges cloth enough to cover the second. No part of the cloth you paint over ought to touch the wood of the frame, if it did the wood would imbibe part of the wax, when the picture is brought near the fire, and leave those parts imperfect.