An ancient painting medium in which pigment is suspended in a binder of hot wax or wax resin. Known since at least the first century, when it was used to create the famous mummy portraits at Faiyum in Egypt. Metal tools and special brushes can be used to shape the paint before it cools, or heated metal tools can be used to manipulate the wax once it has cooled. Today, tools such as heat lamps, heat guns, and other methods of applying heat allow artists to extend the amount of time they have to work with the material. Because wax is used as the pigment binder, encaustics can be sculpted, as well as painted. Despite its ancient origins, the technique has experienced a resurgence in recent years. Among modern artists who experimented with encaustic were Picasso and Jasper Johns.