Ampersand Museum Series Encausticbord has a ready to use surface formulated for the unique demands of encaustic painting and mixed media. Encaustic gesso is applied to Ampersand’s sealed hardbord panel to form a bright, smooth and velvety surface that is ready to use with the ancient technique of encaustic painting. The ground is not only heat resistant and highly absorbent, but also holds tight to layers of wax and collage without the fear of cracking or separation.

A Creative Collaboration between Ampersand and R&F Handmade Paints (authorities in their respective fields of wood painting panels and encaustic paint colors) led to Encausticbord, a unique wood panel that has the tooth to hold encaustic and mixed media unlike any other surface.Through months of exhaustive research and testing, Ampersand and R&F ensured that Encausticbord was the most archival and dimensionally stable panel available.

Professional encaustic painters attest to how exceptionally well Encausticbord works when used alone with encaustic paint or in combination with a wide variety of mixed media techniques including collage, oil paints and oil sticks, image transfers and incising. Encausticbord makes it easy to create incredible textures, colors and patterns because of its remarkably receptive surface.

The Encausticbord ground has been specially formulated to provide superb adhesion between the encaustic paint and the surface. The ground is formulated with a very high solids to acrylic binder ratio which results in a very porous and absorbent surface. This highly absorbent surface allows the wax to bond well to the ground. In addition, mineral aggregates are carefully selected in size and shape and added to the ground to yield a surface with a higher degree of surface roughness than typical acrylic gesso, which allows for better adhesion of encaustic.