Encaustic painting utilizes a medium of beeswax and damar resin with the addition of artist pigments. The translucency or opacity of the paint is determined by the amount of pigment used.

The molten encaustic paint is then brushed onto a wood panel. The paint can be manipulated and fused with a propane torch or a heat gun. Palette knives, awls, putty knives, and woodcarving tools may all be used to carve into the wax. After carving, pigment may be brushed into the incised lines. The paint can also be gouged into various shapes, filled with molten color, and the excess scraped off with a clay loop tool.

The works on paper are either encaustic monotypes or a combination of encaustic monotypes, encaustic painting, and drawing with graphite. Paula Roland developed the curriculum for encaustic printmaking. The originator of the technique is Dorothy Furlong-Gardner.