Wax Carving

Lesson 1: Wax Carving Recap

The waxes

• Green: hardest wax, more brittle, great for carving fine detail work
• Purple: middle of the road on hardness and flexibility, my favorite wax
• Blue: softest and most flexible wax, great for  thin carvings
• Wax Tubes are best for rings.
• Wax slabs (various thicknesses) are best for flatter pendants, earrings, brooches.
• Wax blocks are best for more voluminous pieces. Keep weight in mind here!

Tools for carving:

We have special wax versions of saw blades, files, and burs that are less prone to clogging. For fine detail work you can use the regular versions of the above. Make sure to clean any metal bits off of them prior to use, and to clean any wax bits off post-use.

Wax saw blades:

• These are pretty near impossible to break.
• The teeth go around the blade in a spiral pattern.
• Make sure to put the blade in so the teeth point downward.

Wax files:

• Hand files are double ended- a coarse end and a finer end.
• Both ends have a flat side and a half-round side.
• Needle files are pretty coarse.

Wax burs:

• These are black in color and the teeth are spaced further apart.
• These are used same way as the regular burs.
• Do not use bur-life on them.
• Keep these separate from the regular burs, as use on metal can destroy them.

Wolf Wax tools:

• Only usable during class.
• Very sharp and great for precision and detail work.
• Do not use on anything other than wax.
• Only use cold.

Wax spatula tools:

• Double ended tools- try both ends!
• Heat tool over flame then scrape or melt and scoop away the wax
• Good for general shaping and textures.

Wax pens:

• Electric or battery operated.
• Tiny tips (or interchangeable tips) for precision work.
• Great for joining waxes together.

Cold wax carving:

Wax carving is more akin to sculpture than anything else we do in jewelry as it is a subtractive process.  I find it helpful to sketch out both a front and side view of your design, so that you can look at where you need to remove the wax.

• Lay out your pattern on the wax.

When laying out your pattern- use your sharpie first, then finalize with your scribe. Your scribe will leave a line in the wax, so make sure to use a light touch!

• Mark all sides of the wax that you will be working on.
• Wax is much softer than metal. You will remove material very quickly, and it is easy to remove too much!
• Start coarsely- use the files or saw to get general outside shape.
• Then remove any large areas inside with burs or files.
• Work on refining the inside area first, then the outside. This gives you more leeway in case you over file.
• To further smooth your design, you can use your regular files and needle files as well as sandpaper on the design. (steel wool is not good to use, as it creates deep scratches)
• Before and after using any of your regular files on wax, clean them thoroughly with the file brush.
• Always use new sheets of sandpaper on wax. Wax clogs the sandpaper very quickly, so you will go through it quicker.
• Since wax is much softer than the metal, the differences between file grades and grits of sandpaper show up much more. Try several different grits of sandpaper- see what they do!

Rings:

The ring tubes are size 4.5. You can enlarge them with the wax ring tool- Twist the tobe around the mandrel until it is the correct size. The tube will twist easier in one direction. Make sure to flip the tube over so that the interior of the ring is straight.

Enlarge the ring size, then layout your design.

Make doubly sure to mark both sides. It is very easy to over file one side and not the other!

Check your marks often as you are filing and removing material.

Hot wax carving:

• Cover your work area with a sheet of parchment paper.
• Fill an alcohol lamp with denatured alcohol.
• Light it.
• Warm the wax tool over the flame for about 10-15 seconds or until it begins to smoke slightly
• Scoop, press, or drag the tool into the wax.
• Keep heating the tool as it cools off and the wax becomes harder to move. You will need to do this pretty frequently!
• The hot tool will melt the wax letting you scoop away excess, or create depressions and indentations in the wax
• Each of the tools are 2 sided- try all sides! They each produce different looks.

Use the cold carving techniques to get your general shape, then work with the hot wax tools. For final finishing/shaping, go back to cold wax work.

To join waxes together:

• Use one of the thin knife-like tools. Heat over the flame. Place the 2 waxes together and draw the hot tool along the seam, sealing it with wax.
• The waxes should have a liquidy surface as you are working with them. If not, the tool is not hot enough.
• Seal all sides.
• If you are attaching wax wire to wax tube or sheet, run the tool between the wire and sheet quickly and it will seal all the way through.
• You can also seal breaks or cracks in the wax this way.

The hot tools tend to leave ridges along the edge and a melted texture (which can be quite appealing). If you want to get rid of these wait for the wax to cool and then use the files and burs to smooth out.

To add wax:

• Use a spatula shaped tool, or a tool with a decent surface area (not one of the picks).
• Scoop up some of the sticky wax.
• Hold the tool over the lamp until the wax becomes liquid- not smoking!
• Drip the wax where you want it.
• You can keep building up in layers this way.

After adding or joining wax, you can then shape with any of the tools- cold or hot.