I often get the question about the differences between water-based cold wax for acrylics and the regular cold wax used with oils. And since I love to experiment, I decided to see for myself!
The difference between the mediums:
Water-Based Cold Wax for Acrylics:
If you love painting with acrylics, water-based cold wax can be an interesting medium for you. It's like a special tool that helps you create interesting textures and layers. The best part? It dries pretty quickly, so you can keep building on your artwork without waiting too long. And when it's time to clean up, you don't need anything but water!
Cold wax medium for Oils:
Cold wax medium is made with beeswax, some solvent, and resin, which makes it incompatible with acrylic paints. This medium gives you more time to play around because it takes longer to dry (which can be very frustrating to many of us!) You can keep layering your painting, creating depth and history which I haven’t achieved yet with the water-based cold wax.
For the experiment, I divided my paper in two and started to paint in oils and cold wax medium on one side and water-based cold wax and acrylics on the other side. The water-based cold wax has a more ‘plastic’ shiny finish than the solvent based one and you can create beautiful textures with both mediums.
You can see my experiment on my YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell because this is just part 1 of the experiment, there wil be more! 🔔
Are you interested in a Water-based cold wax and acrylics online class? Check out my in-depth online class with lots of techniques, projects and demo’s!
Water-based cold wax and Acrylics Online Class
The new cold wax for acrylics is called Powerwax, from a company called Powertex. There are Powertex representatives in many countries, you can find the list by clicking the button below
As always, don’t hesitate to ask me questions, I would love to connect with you!💙
