WAX CARVING

FOR JEWELLERS

‘Swanmaid’ oxidized sterling silver and freshwater pearls by Russell Lownsbrough.

WAX CARVING

FOR JEWELLERS

Russell Lownsbrough
and Danila Tarcinale

First published in 2021 by
The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR

enquiries@crowood.com
www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2020

© Russell Lownsbrough and Danila Tarcinale 2021

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 835 1

Dedications

Russell: I’d like to dedicate this book to Neville Morgan, who first introduced me to wax carving; Josie, my mum, who always believed in me; Frank, my dad, who was eventually proud of me; Auntie Edith, a kindred spirit. I wrote this book to impress them; none of them lived to see it published.

Danila: I’d like to dedicate this book to my parents, to the people who taught me and allowed me to get this far, and to past and future students who I hope will benefit from this book. Learning to carve is a life-changing experience and more like a form of meditation. Special thanks to my co-author Russell, my friend Enrico Mansanti, and my boyfriend Matteo Gilardoni for their patience and support.

CHAPTER 1

What is Wax Carving?

This book is an introduction to the ancient art of wax carving. It is based on a programme of teaching developed and refined by the writers over a period of twenty-five years. The following chapters will guide readers through both their beginner and intermediate courses.

Wax carving is like sculpture for jewellery or sculpture in miniature. As you are reading this book, you have probably already decided that this is perhaps the direction for you or at least one you’d like to investigate. It is especially good for the creation of figurative forms, whether these be realistic (think Antonio Canova) or stylized (think Henry Moore).

‘Life Goes On’ ring by Russell Lownsbrough.

Most jewellery is very obviously made from sheet, wire and tube; however, there are forms that can really only be achieved by being sculpted in wax. Wax carving was historically a very important skill. Baroque, rococo and art nouveau jewellery relied very heavily on this technique, as did the silversmithing work of masters like Cellini (sixteenth century) and Paul de Lamerie (eighteenth century). The technique, however, is much older than this, and has been in continuous use for approximately 6,000 years on three continents.

When computer-aided design (CAD) appeared in the 1990s, many people mistakenly thought that it was the end for wax carving. However, it appears that reports of its death were exaggerated: courses in wax carving proliferate and numerous vibrant international wax carving groups exist on social media. It’s a living, breathing, thriving art. CAD these days is mainly a threat to traditional mount-making, the type of jewellery made from sheet, wire and tube.

A ‘tree’.

The lost wax casting technique

Carvings are mostly transmuted into metal by the lost wax casting technique, also known as investment casting or cire perdue. In this process, wax models have a sprue attached and are encased in plaster. The sprue is the avenue through which metal flows to form the casting. Once the plaster is solid, the wax is burnt out and molten metal is poured into the cavity formed by the vacated wax. Different metals require different investment plasters. After casting, the plaster is broken off the metal and the piece is cut off the sprue.

A silver casting.

Waxes are usually cast on a ‘tree’ – a thick rod of wax with many sprues attached to it, each with a wax model. The majority of casting is done commercially by vacuum casting, which has replaced centrifugal.

There are other types of casting, such as ceramic shell casting, sand casting, Delft clay and cuttlefish casting. These techniques are for the DIY enthusiast. For consistently good results a professional casting company is the best route. This book is concerned with carving and will not be delving into the arena of casting techniques. Suggested books on the subject will be in the Further Information section at the end of the book.

INSPIRATION AND DESIGN

Inspiration can come from any source. The first thing you need to decide is what appeals to you personally. It is useful to think in terms of sculpture when approaching any design to be carved, and studying sculpture closely is a good way to help you understand form.

Design sheet example, showing dimensions to be considered.

Before beginning any carving, it’s essential to spend time working out what exactly you are going to carve. Prepare drawings of your design from as many angles as you can. This will help to define the form in your mind, which will yield far better results. Of course a design on paper is essential to communicate your ideas to a potential client as well as for transferring a design to a piece of wax. The example pictured below is for the first project in Chapter 6.

It’s important to do as much visual research as possible when preparing a design for something figurative; fortunately the internet has made it extremely easy to find pictures. That said, however, internet pictures can’t always replace a good reference book on your subject. For any figurative work, get a book on the appropriate anatomy as it’s important to understand the muscle and bone structure beneath the skin when carving humans or animals.

The three stages of carving

Most carvings go through three stages:

STAGE 1: ‘This is going ok.’ At this stage you’re shaping and defining volumes, profiles etc., guided by the marking-out from when you transferred the design.

STAGE 2: ‘This is a disaster, but maybe I can salvage something…’ The second phase requires a leap of faith. You begin to abandon the initial markings and start to really sculpt. It’s very common to lose faith in your abilities at this stage. Don’t give up.

STAGE 3: ‘OK, it’s not that bad. Actually, that’s pretty good.’ Perseverance pays off as the design is realized and at last you have the joy of making those final little refinements to your design.

There are a lot of good books on drawing plants and animals that are extremely useful at breaking structures down into basic forms. A few keywords on Amazon will produce a plethora of possibilities; read the reviews before selecting. The Goodreads website is also a useful resource; you can ask for recommendations on there as well as read reviews.

If gemstones are to be incorporated, it’s important to produce accurate designs to ensure enough space is left to accommodate them. Similarly when designing a ring you should produce a design to scale to ensure that the finger size can accommodate all design elements.

The design process should proceed as follows:

• Find your idea, collect your visual research, make a mood board. This will also come in handy as a reference when you begin carving.

• Produce a design on paper. You could also make a mock-up in paper, card or Plasticine. This can help you visualize the design in three dimensions. The more time you spend at the design stage, the more successful your finished item is likely to be, especially for a beginner.

• Transfer the design to the wax.

• Carve.

‘Honey Bee’ by Russell Lownsbrough.

Not all designs have to be completed entirely in wax. For the Honey Bee pin pictured below, only the body was carved. The legs were made in metal from wire and the wings from sheet. The antennae were soldered to the body after casting.

TRANSFERRING DESIGNS

There are several ways to transfer a design to wax. Some are more suitable to certain designs than others. The projects in this book will introduce you to these techniques with relevant projects. Marking-out is very important to successfully realizing your design.

Pricking through

This is the most common technique for transferring a design. Trace your design onto a piece of tracing paper and fix the tracing to the wax with double-sided tape or glue. Prick through the traced lines with a scriber or similar tool, remove the tracing paper and join the dots with the same tool.

Direct drawing

A design can be drawn directly onto wax with a scriber or a marker pen. This requires a greater degree of skill. When using a marker pen, the colour of the wax may make the marks difficult to see, but black shows up fairly well on all types. CD or permanent markers are best for this job; water-based pens don’t stay on wax. Go over the marker pen with a scriber to make the design more permanent as marker pen may rub off with handling. The marker can be very useful for colour coding areas to help you keep track of which areas you have worked on in a complex design. Dividers are useful to help transfer dimensions from the design sheet to the wax.

Spray and draw

Spray the wax with a primer paint and sketch onto the wax with a marker or a pencil. A soft lead is advisable when using a pencil so as not to break the skin of primer on the wax. Alternatively the design can be painted onto the primer with a brush.

Shrinkage

Wax will usually shrink by around 3 per cent, but can shrink by up to 5 per cent, depending on the methods used by your caster. Always check with your caster what the anticipated shrinkage will be.

Depending on your design, you may have to take steps to accommodate this by increasing the dimensions appropriately. If the casting is to become a master and have a mould made from it, you can expect the same shrinkage again.

CHAPTER 2

Tools and Materials

WORK AREA

Bench

The ideal surface is a jeweller’s bench, which is specifically designed to meet all the demands of the model maker/jeweller. It has a semi-circular cut-out to accommodate a bench pin and a sawing peg under which is either a drop drawer or a bench skin to catch filings. Almost all your work will be done on the bench peg. The recommended bench height is 90cm or 36in. See Further Information for suppliers.

Using a burr.

Bench.

Clamp-on bench pin.

For the beginner who may not wish to invest in a bench or have the capability to build one, you can buy a combination peg and anvil to screw to your kitchen table. These are readily available from jewellery suppliers and function very well when attached to a sturdy and stable table or other working surface.

Seating

Sitting at the correct height is very important for comfort, health and posture as you will be spending quite long periods of time focusing on your work. An adjustable office chair or adjustable stool is ideal. Generally the best height to sit at is with the peg pointing directly at the centre of your chest.

There are times you may wish to adjust your position. For example, while working on very detailed pieces, you might want to reduce the height of your seat. If an activity feels uncomfortable, adjust the chair appropriately. Sitting too high will result in a stiff neck and back pain.

Light

Good lighting is very important. As well as a main light in the room, you will need a suitable angle-poise bench lamp, either clamped or permanently fixed to your work space. There are different types commercially available. We recommend fluorescent or LED, ideally simulating daylight. We do not recommend any form of spotlight as this will cause eye strain and strong highlights on your work, making it difficult to read form.

TOOLS

Each person will develop their own way of working and have their own tool preferences, depending on the type of job and type of wax being used. Wax can be drilled, filed, sanded, lathed, and of course carved. About the only process you can’t do is hammering. Carving is something of a misnomer, as the technique is closer to scraping than true carving.

In this section you will be introduced to the tools that are commonly used for wax carving. There are a variety of tools that can be used to sculpt wax: to measure, to scrape large areas, to mark details to carve at a later stage, etc. We will describe what these tools are and how to use them.

There’s quite an array available and almost anything can be used or adapted. Some are essential, some less so. Ultimately everyone will find their own favourites, but for initial guidance each entry below will be categorized:

[ E ] essential

[ R ] recommended

[ U ] useful

[ N ] non-essential

Marking-out tools

Wax is a very soft material in comparison with metal so a light touch is necessary.

Scriber [ E ]

A scriber is a sharpened piece of steel, normally used to draw on metal. The scriber has multiple functions in wax carving: drawing on the wax, transferring a design by pricking through, or as a carving tool. Several types are available or you can make your own. The clutch pencil with a piece of sharpened 2mm steel is a home-adapted tool: one point is sharp and the other is slightly rounded. The rounded end will make visible but less prominent marks on the wax – easier to clean out later. A seamstress needle held in a pin vice can function quite adequately in this role with wax.

Scribers.Top to bottom: pin vice with pin; steel scriber; Wolf Tools scriber; clutch pencil with sharpened steel.

Dividers [ E ]

A pair of good quality steel dividers are necessary for both marking out and transferring measurements from a design sheet to a work-in-progress.

Left to right: ruler, set square, dividers.

Steel ruler and set square [ E ]

Used for marking out in conjunction with a scriber. The flat edges can also work quite well as scrapers on large pieces.

Vernier gauge [ R ]

Highly accurate, for internal and external measurements. Larger versions are available.

Top to bottom: ring-stick, vernier gauge, dixieme gauge.

Dixieme gauge [ R ]

A sprung caliper gauge for measurements up to 10mm; very useful for measuring thickness in areas inaccessible to the vernier. Larger versions are available.

Ring-stick [ E ]

A tapered rod in either steel or aluminium, with parallel lines engraved into it at regular intervals along its length. Used for measuring ring sizes. In the UK the sizes are described in letters, while in Europe and the US they are represented by numbers.

Scraping and carving tools

Craft knife [ E ]

A good quality craft knife is easily adapted for wax carving and is a highly versatile tool. It can quickly switch from scraping to chiselling, whittling, slicing and even engraving-type actions very easily.

Scalpel tips.

Scalpel handles.

Custom scalpel tips.

The most important thing to look for when buying a handle is metal jaws to grip the blade. Most handles are 8mm to 10mm in diameter and the most useful blade is the number #11. X-Acto is an excellent brand, but Amtech, Wedo, Eurotool and Excel are all good too. Swann Morton now manufacture a craft knife, but don’t confuse it with their scalpel, shown overleaf. The blades are sturdy and can be reshaped for many different carving jobs, and the different blades fitted into the handle as necessary. They can be reshaped with a grinder.

The most frequently used blades that we have fashioned from number #11s are pictured left. Throughout the book they will be referred to as chisel/flat, round and crevice. If you start to use a lot of different shapes, you may find it handy to keep your most favourite blades in their own handle and colour code the handles to make selection quicker and easier (see below left).

As these blades are relatively cheap, you can make them up for all sorts of purposes and simply hang on to them in case they come in handy again. The blades pictured below right were created for slightly more unusual or very specific jobs.

How to modify your own scalpel blades without a grinder

We normally recommend three blade types to start with. For simplicity, we will call them crevice, flat and round.

The tools you need to make these are: torch, reverse action tweezers or ordinary tweezers, steel block, a bowl with water, oilstone.

• Hold one of the blades with tweezers and heat it up evenly until it becomes cherry red.

• Once this is achieved, rest it on the steel block to cool down. The reason for doing this is that the metal will stay soft.

• Shape the blade to the required shape using a regular file. At this stage you can secure the blade in the handle in order to file it.

• Put a chamfer on all working edges at approximately a 15-degree angle, sharpen the blade on all sides, back and front.

• Hold the blade in tweezers again and heat the shaped-up blade back to cherry red, then quench immediately in water. This will re-harden the blade so that it will be easier to sharpen and will retain the edge.

• Paper flat area at the top and bottom of blade to clean it, and sharpen on oilstone (see box).

Your blade is now ready for use.

How to sharpen blades

You’ll need an oilstone and Three in One oil, a.k.a. mineral oil.

Add a couple of drops of oil to the stone and hold the blade at a 10–15-degree angle to the stone and move side to side following the shape of the blade, making sure that the entire bevel of the cutting edge is uniformly touching the stone.

• Crevice blade: back and forth in a slightly curving arc, keeping the curved edge flush to the stone. Turn over and repeat.

• Flat/chisel: back and forth in a straight line, keeping the flat edge flush to the stone. Turn over and repeat.

• Round: back and forth in a straight line. To sharpen the round part, use a circular motion, adjusting the pitch of the blade to ensure the entire edge is sharpened. Repeat on the other side of the blade.

Finally, check the sharpness of the blades against your nail (without hurting yourself) or against a piece of wood, and remove any burrs from the edges by dragging the blade lengthwise against a piece of wood. Also check the edge of the blade with a jeweller’s loop to make sure there are no nicks in the edge that might translate to the surface of your wax.

Swann Morton scalpel [ U ]

This looks like the sort of scalpel that would be used by a surgeon. The blades are incredibly sharp and fantastic for cutting paper, less so for wax. It’s not without its uses, but cannot function like a craft knife – the blade is far less rigid and tends to leave judder marks on the wax if used as a scraper, which will have to be removed later. Its main use is for mould cutting.

Swann-Morton scalpels.

[ E ] essential

[ R ] recommended

[ U ] useful

[ N ] non-essential

Wolf tools [ U ]

Wolf tools are beautifully produced scraping tools, created by Kate Wolf, an American wax carver. The tools are steel tips in a wooden handle. The sets comprise a variety of useful tool shapes for everyday use as well as some more specialized tools, colour-coded and numbered for easy reference. Now available in two sizes.

Wolf tools.

Wolf tools.

Engraving tools and scorpers [ U ]

Engraving tools and scorpers are lengths of hard steel of different sections fixed into a round or mushroom-shaped wooden handle. Usually used by engravers and setters respectively.

Scorpers.

The engraving tools have different cross-sections: round, square, flat, etc. The handle rests against the palm and the steel shaft is held between the thumb and the index finger. Normally the sharpened tip is pushed forward into the metal to be engraved at a low angle in order to create a groove that has the shape of the selected tool. These can be used in a similar fashion on wax carving and function in very much the same way as they would on metal, the only difference being that wax is incredibly soft by comparison and considerably less force is required. They are excellent for creating superficial linear patterns on wax surfaces.

Dental wax tools [ N ]

These are intended for soft dental wax and many are not really suitable for the type of wax we use for carving; however, they can be adapted. The various picks and spatula shapes can be altered or sharpened according to need, by a similar method to that used to sharpen X-Acto blades earlier, using either an oilstone or a grinder.

Engraving on wax.

Three-square scraper [ N ]

The three-square scraper is a triangular-section length of steel, usually in a wooden handle. The edges of the triangle are used to smooth edges and remove burrs of metal. In wax carving the scraper is very useful for opening up the inside of rings as it can be used to shave very small amounts of wax from inside the shank without leaving marks or scratches, if used carefully. Miniature ones can be filed from pieces of steel or ground from old files.

Three-square scraper and dental tools.

DIY scrapers [ U ]

A piece of steel stuck in the end of a bit of oak dowel, a ball burr in a pin vice, reground old files, reground burrs – there’s no limit to the type of tool you can adapt or invent that could be perfect for one job or many.

DIY carving tools.

Wax ring-sizer [ E ]

This tool is similar to the measuring ring-stick but it has a blade running along its length. This allows you to increase the finger size of a ring wax. This tool cannot be relied upon for accurate size. When using it, ream the hole from both sides and constantly check the ring size on the measuring ring-stick. Check the size is correct from both openings of the ring.

Matt reamer [ N ]

A much more sophisticated device for sizing a ring. For anyone who’s going to make a career out of wax carving, this is a highly recommended purchase. It can only be used with a wax ring tube. A reasonable length of tube is required in order to create the correct size, otherwise the tool becomes unstable. So you can’t use it for offcuts.

Matt reamer, wax ring-sizer.

The tool is like a solid metal cylinder with a hole two-thirds of the way to the top, where you can insert either of the two cutting tools that come with the reamer. One is a double-sided blade for flattening and smoothing the end of the cylinder, and the other is a short blade that projects from one side of the tool and is used to open the ring wax to the desired finger size. The blade can be adjusted to project different lengths out of the cylinder in order to create different finger sizes. The advantage of this tool is that if used correctly it is extremely accurate and the inner wall of the wax remains parallel.

[ E ] essential

[ R ] recommended

[ U ] useful

[ N ] non-essential

Sawing and filing tools

Piercing saw frame and saw-blades [ E ]

The piercing saw frame is a type of saw commonly used for jewellery making. The blades are held in tension in a metal frame. Saw-blades are fitted with the teeth pointing down towards the handle.

Left to right: coping saw-blade, skip-a-tooth saw-blade, spiral saw-blade, standard piercing saw-blade.

There are several different types of piercing saw frames, fixed and adjustable. The idea of adjustable frames is that you can use broken bits of saw-blades; this is more suitable for metal work than for wax. The Eclipse PS51 is a good, inexpensive, durable fixed frame. The Grobet is a lightweight fixed frame with a removable handle for easy storage. The Green Lion is a rather more expensive but popular retro-style fixed frame for the image-conscious. Knew Concepts have some expensive techno-style fixed frames adored by their fans.

Piercing saws can be used to cut wax; however, standard piercing saw-blades will clog with wax and become ineffective very quickly. Ordinary piercing saw-blades can only be used on small or very thin pieces of wax. Consequently specialist saw-blades have been developed. These are the spiral and the skip-a-tooth saw-blades, which also come in different thicknesses. Spiral blades are quite coarse, so use them for broad initial sawing, then switch to skip-a-tooth.

A coping saw-blade can be modified to fit a piercing saw by snapping the ends off. In fact we did this a lot before spiral blades became available.

Coping saw [ N ]

A woodworker’s tool with a heavy saw-blade is very useful for cutting large pieces of wax.

Piercing and coping saw.

Wood saw [ U ]

A small, good quality wood saw is a useful tool to have to cut wax slices off wax blocks.

Hand files [ U ]

These files are usually intended for metal.

The coarse ones, cut 0, are best for wax as fine cuts, as cut 2 will clog very quickly. They can be cleaned with a file card or a wire brush.

Coarse hand and needle files.

Needle file [ R ]

Same as above: the coarse are good, but the fines ones will clog very easily.

Rasps and needle rasps.

Wax file [ E ]

Also known as a double-ended wax file. It is a double-ended D-section file with coarse teeth and also very coarse teeth. Vallorbe make a very good quality one.

Wax file.

Wax needle files/wax rasps [ N ]

These come in two types, some with a few spaced-out teeth that are as close to useless as you can get, and others with many closely packed teeth. The latter used to be known as needle rasps and were classed as woodworking tools. They are great for removing large amounts of wax very quickly, however they do leave heavy marks in the wax that take time to remove. Furthermore it’s quite easy to file too much wax away.

Standard wood rasps can be useful for working on extremely large carvings.

[ E ] essential

[ R ] recommended

[ U ] useful

[ N ] non-essential

Drills and burrs

Drill bits [ E ]

Ordinary wood/metal drill bits are perfectly good for working with wax. Due to its softness, it is perfectly acceptable and accurate to put a drill bit into a hand chuck or pin vice and drill the hole by hand. For large drilling jobs you can still use a pedestal drill or a hand drill. A bow drill would be of very little use, as the nature of the wax will render it useless.

Drills and burrs.

Burrs [ E ]

Many standard burr shapes are useful with wax. They can also be fixed into a pin vice or hand chuck and used as a scraping tool if held without rotating, or as a drilling tool if rotated. There are specialist wax burrs available for use with motors.

Hand chucks/swivel-head pin vices [ R ]

These will hold drill bits of varying sizes or burrs depending on the type/size of chuck.

Swivel-head pin vices.

Pendant motor and micro-motor [ U ]

Can be used with burrs to quickly remove large amounts of wax. Burrs can clog due to the heat generated during use, which will melt the wax and cause it to stick to the burr. This can be avoided by running at a slow speed, using a light touch and not forcing the burr onto the wax.

Micro-motor.

Pendant motor.

Due to the soft nature of wax, an inexpensive micro-motor will work fine. Micro-motors probably have the edge over pendant motors when it comes to working with wax as they can be held more like a pen, allowing finer use.

Hot working tools

Either for repair or build-up, you’ll need at least one option for repairing broken waxes.

Wax pens [ R ]

Sometimes known as an electric spatula. This tool looks like a soldering iron, either with a digital or a rotary temperature control. There is a set of tips for different functions. The pens are used for building up or repairing wax. They come in a range of prices, with some very inexpensive versions now available. A cheaper alternative is a soldering iron with a temperature control, but these tend to heat up too quickly and too high. You can also find little wax pens powered by battery but those are really only useful for making small repairs.

Wax pens.

[ E ] essential

[ R ] recommended

[ U ] useful

[ N ] non-essential

Spirit lamps [ U ]

The old-school alternative to the electric wax pen, these can be used in conjunction with wax carving tools, either scalpel tips or dental tools, to perform the same functions as wax pens. The tool is held in the flame to heat it up before using it on the wax. A disadvantage of this method is deposits on the blade becoming mixed with the wax and also the problem of having to reheat the blade constantly. You can also use your soldering torch in the same way as the spirit lamp if you can soften the flame. Fill it with methylated spirit.

Spirit lamp.

Wire wool and rubber abrasives.

Finishing products

• Wire wool, grade 0000 [ R ], very fine, removes marks in the surface of the wax.

• Emery paper/Garryflex rubber abrasive [ R ] sands down and smooths the wax. Useful emery grades are 80, 120, 180 for preparing wax; 400, 600, 800 and 1000 for finishing waxes.

• Tights/stockings [ U ] can put a superfine polish on your wax.

• White spirit/methylated spirits [ U ] can be used with cotton wool to smooth out the surface of the wax by melting a fine layer of the surface.

Other handy products [ U ]

• Superglue, for quick repairs.

• Blu Tack, good for holding in place things that are about to get repaired.

• Plasticine, useful to create a rough model of something you are about to carve.

• Apron: wax shavings get everywhere and static makes them stick to you. If you’re wearing dark clothes, this is essential.

• Optivisors are useful when working on very small details.

[ E ] essential

[ R ] recommended

[ U ] useful

[ N ] non-essential

Other tools [ N ]

• Wood chisels and cutting tools, lino cutting tools, and the kinds of things that can be found in jewellery suppliers, hardware, tool, craft and hobby shops are all potentially wax-carving tools. They can be used to work wax either as scrapers, texturing tools or in a similar fashion to engraving tools. Don’t go and buy them specifically, but if you already have some available, you might find them useful or enjoy experimenting with them.

• Digital scale, useful for weighing your wax.

Electronic scales.

WAX: DIFFERENT TYPES AND USES

What is carving wax?

The wax used for carving is not like candle wax. It is a harder, smoother wax specially designed for carving and machining, a blend of wax and plastic/resin.

Selection of carving wax.

Wax can be sawed, carved, filed, machined, turned on a lathe, or melted to build up shapes. It is available in the form of blocks, slices, rods, tubes and bangles. Sheets, blocks and rods are for general carving. The tubes are for carving rings. Shapes available in each colour are in brackets in the following list.

Ferris File-A-Wax is the most common in the UK:

• Blue: This is the most commonly used general purpose carving wax, and the one we will be using in most projects in this book. (Ring, slice, bangle and block.)

• Purple: Harder than blue, more flexible than green. (Ring, slice and block.)

• Turquoise: Feels quite greasy, good for milling, not great for carving. (Block and slice.)

• Green: A hard wax, not very flexible, excellent definition. (Ring, slice and block.)

• Gold: Slightly more flexible than the orange, carves well, good definition. Because of the colour, it’s easy to see lines drawn with a CD marker pen. (Ring, slice and block.)

• Orange: A hard wax, reasonable to carve, sharp definition. (Slice and block.)

Wax sheet and wire.

Health and safety

• Use goggles and a dust mask when using burrs and a pendant motor/micro-motor.

• Keep a first-aid kit, antiseptic and plasters handy – blades and other tools are sharp.

• An eye-wash.

• Something for burns are useful in case of accidents with heat tools.

• Wear sensible clothes and shoes, tie up long hair, and remove scarves/dangling items that are likely to catch, especially when using a motor.

Other waxes

• Pink: A very soft wax with a much lower melting point. Does not carve well, better for building up, quite useful for forming around objects such as stones/pearls and for ‘glueing’ waxes together. This wax is usually in sheets of various thicknesses. It can be formed to any shape and is easily cut with a knife or scissors. Drawings or tracings can be made directly on the sheets. We find them very useful for creating hollow forms or bezels for unusually shaped stones or pearls. Also available as a wire, for sprues.

• Green sheet: A very soft thin sheet wax, similar to pink.

• Wax wires: These come in a variety of thicknesses and these days quite a range of profiles. Usually blue, but a smaller pink variety is also available. Generally too soft and sticky for refined work, with a low melting point; best used for repairs. The recent Ferris Cowdery profiles can be used to create settings or hinges, for example. However, settings and hinges are still better and more accurately built in metal after casting.

• Injection wax: The soft, low melting point wax that is injected into moulds. Not a suitable wax for carving as it is very sticky and will pick up a lot of dirt particles as you handle it.

Injection wax.

• Disclosing wax: A dental technician’s wax. Sticky, it has a low melting point. Use for repairs only; no use for carving.

• Sticky Wax: A low melting point wax for repairing breaks.

Sticky wax, disclosing wax.

• Ferris Mold-a-Wax: A new build-up wax with a low melting point.

• Kerr Perfect Purple: An excellent low melting point build-up wax.

CHAPTER 3

Starter Exercises

This chapter contains a series of exercises specifically designed to acclimatize the novice to the use of wax and relevant tools. These exercises can be performed any number of times in order to gain proficiency and speed.

‘Green Man’ belt buckle by Russell Lownsbrough.

These exercises are designed to introduce the beginner to using wax, using the basic tools, and by repeating them build confidence, competence and speed. They can be repeated any number of times and it’s worth trying them at different sizes, and with different colour waxes.

The four exercises.

Cutting slices

Often you will need a sheet of carving wax; these are cut from blocks of wax. Sliced blocks are available but won’t necessarily be in the thickness you require. First decide on the thickness you want, then open up the dividers to the chosen width and use them to mark the wax all the way around. Use enough pressure for the marks to be visible but not so much that mistakes cannot be rectified. As with all processes in this book, practice makes perfect.

For use in the exercises that follow, you will need a 10mm slice from the end of a standard wax block, so this is a good opportunity to make one and practise this basic but essential skill. Set the dividers to 10mm with the aid of a ruler and, using the straight edge of the block of wax, mark all four sides of the end of the block. Use the straight edges of the wax as a guide whenever this is possible.

Hold the block firmly either with your hand, or if the block is large it can be clamped in a vice (a sheet of cardboard or leather will ensure that the vice jaws will not mark the surface of the wax).

With your choice of saw (see box), begin to cut slowly and carefully along the marked lines. Wax is very soft in comparison to metal and it’s very easy to go astray while cutting. Therefore, to increase accuracy, it’s a good idea to rotate the block while cutting so that cuts on each side are slowly brought towards the centre. This will greatly reduce inaccurate sawing and save wasted time and wax.

Marking the lines.

Mark all four sides.

Protect the wax in a vice.

Using a wood saw.

Using a coping saw.

Using a piercing saw.

Rotate the block.

Choice of saw

A wood saw is good for cutting large pieces of wax. It’s quite crude, but the teeth are less likely to clog and its shape helps the saw cut stay true.

A coping saw has the advantage of large teeth also and has a slightly deeper and wider frame than the average piercing saw.

A standard piercing saw will work fine with a spiral saw-blade, but just take your time and make sure the cut doesn’t wander. Deep piercing saws are available, but a coping saw or wood saw is probably a more useful investment.

Preparation of wax

In our method of wax carving the squaring-up process is very important, unless the item to be carved is free form. It’s important to have a relatively smooth surface on your wax to begin with. Even a piece of wax direct from the box will have a roughly cut surface on it. Also any piece that you cut from either a block or ring tube will acquire a rough surface from sawing. Before any design can be transferred to the wax it is therefore important to create a surface that the design can be transferred to.

Smoothing the surface

Once the required piece has been cut from the block, you can tidy up the slice of wax initially by using the wax file, then by using a sheet of coarse emery paper for a smoother finish. Place a piece of sand or emery paper on a flat surface. The edges of the paper can be secured with masking tape if necessary. Rub the wax on the sandpaper in a figure of eight motion; this helps keep the sanding action even and prevents the wax getting too worn down on one edge. Begin with a coarse grit and work up through finer and finer grades until you have a fine enough surface. Once this process is complete, you can check that the dimensions are all correct with the use of dividers or a vernier gauge.

Congratulations, you now have a slice of wax ready for the following exercises!

Preparing for the exercises

The object is to obtain four equal squares/cubes.

Looking at your wax slice, open up your dividers to 18mm and mark the wax on each corner, sides and underneath. If you need to make the lines more visible, rub a little talcum powder into the lines.

Now cut along the lines you have just created in order to obtain four equal squares. Use the lines on all sides as a guide while cutting, similar to when you were cutting the slice. The skip-a-tooth saw-blade is best at this point.

As you have already noticed when you were cutting the slice from the block, accuracy is important. Cut along the lines slowly in order to avoid mistakes that will need rectifying. Keep your piercing saw frame as perpendicular as possible.

Squaring-up process

By marking the four squares as shown earlier, you will already have two perfect edges and one guaranteed 90-degree angle. Ideally at this point it would be nice to have four perfect squares, however the squares just cut will most likely need a little work before they are suitable for the exercises. Your sawn edges will be rough and might not be totally straight. Use your wax file to smooth the edges.

Use the dividers to check the sides are all equal, in the same way that you marked them out, and use the set square to check the angle is 90 degrees. This may seem like an insignificant part of the exercise, but good beginnings are the foundation of precise work.

EXERCISE 1

Pyramid

The pyramid.

The purpose of this exercise is to teach the accurate use of the file with wax.

Step 1.

Step 1

Take the block that is the most perfect from the four you have just created. Take your dividers and carefully mark a line across the middle of the top in both directions to form a cross and give you a centre. Repeat the process on all sides and the bottom. Try to find the middle by eye, without the help of a ruler. In order to do this, open the dividers to what you think might be the centre and mark a very light line. Do this from the opposite side to check that the lines match. If they don’t, adjust the opening of the dividers slightly and try again.

Step 2.

Step 2

Set the dividers to 2mm and mark a line from the bottom edge on all four sides.

Step 3a.

Step 3

With the coarse end of your wax file, start filing on one side to create an inclined flat plane (Step 3a). Make sure you don’t pass the centre line on the top and the base line on the side. If you do, lightly replace the filed away centre line with your dividers. Repeat on the opposite side.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3d.

Step 3e.

At this point the piece should roughly resemble the roof of a house with a light line down the centre of the ridge (Step 3b). Repeat this same process on the two as yet untouched sides (Steps 3c–e).

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4

Now look at the pyramid from the top. The angles from the corners should form a perfect cross running through the geometric centre of the piece. The first time you attempt this, it is unlikely to be perfect. Small adjustments can now be made by using a large flat smoother file to remove the remaining marking-out lines. Smooth the surfaces and get sharp crisp lines by carefully scraping across each plane with a flat edge, such as the flat side of the crevice tip of the scalpel (Step 4a). Fine emery paper can also be used (Step 4b). Wire wool or flaming should be avoided as this will soften the edges where the planes meet.

EXERCISE 2

Dome

The dome.

The purpose of this exercise is to acclimatize the student to the creation of a simple regular form that requires personal visual judgement to complete correctly. It’s obvious when the pyramid is correct, but this exercise relies on the student to judge if the dome is even.

Take one of the remaining squares of wax and find the centre on both sides. To find the centre you can use two methods. For the first, use a ruler to make a diagonal line from one corner to the other and mark it with a scriber. Repeat on the other diagonal. It’s difficult to be perfectly accurate this way.

For the second, take the dividers and roughly measure to the centre of the block. With one point of the dividers resting against the edge of the block, run the other point lightly across the surface. Repeat with the other three edges, and you should now have a centre, or a little box that defines the centre.

Step 1.

Step 1

Open the dividers from the centre to the side and rotate them to create a circle. Repeat the same steps on the underneath to act as a guideline while sawing and/ or filing.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2d.

Step 2

Start cutting carefully around the circle, making sure that the saw frame is held as perpendicular as possible to the work (Step 2a). It’s good practice to stop and check that you haven’t sawn over the line on the underneath, as it’s easy to go off course with thick objects and as wax is particularly soft this can happen very rapidly. Good hand-eye coordination takes time to develop. Once you have sawn around it, you will have a cylinder like a small drum (Step 2b). The saw-blade will leave a rough edge which should now be cleaned up by filing around the edge to create a perfect circle (Step 2c). Open the dividers to a width of 2mm and mark a line around the bottom edge (Step 2d).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3

Using the wax file, start to file a curve between the centre and the line on the edge. Gradually move around the circumference, filing inwards a bit at a time (Step 3a). It’s important not to file too much in any one spot: gradually working all over the piece will produce a more accurate and even dome (Step 3b). As you get close to an ideal dome, transfer to a smoother file or remove the file marks with the flat edge of a scraping tool (Step 3c).

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4

Finally, rub the surface of your dome with wire wool to remove any last vestiges of file marks (Step 4a). You could also run a soft bushy flame lightly over the surface (Step 4b).

This is a good exercise to practise the wax finishing techniques discussed on page 43.

EXERCISE 3

Convex Spiral

The convex spiral.

The purpose of this exercise is to train the eye and introduce the student to the use of the scalpel or flat-tipped carving tools.

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1c.

Step 1d.

Step 1

Begin the exercise with one of the four prepared square blocks. With a pen, sketch a spiral onto the wax (Step 1a). When you are satisfied with your spiral, go over it with a scriber (Step 1b). Next take a file and file away the corners, leaving a cylinder (Steps 1c and 1d). If you feel confident or are repeating the exercise, try cutting the corners off with the saw using the skip-a-gtooth saw-blade.

Step 2a.

Step 2

From this point there are two ways to proceed, either with the use of the file or with the use of the flat-edge scalpel. If using the file, begin to lower the open end of the spiral until it is 3mm from the bottom of the block and carefully begin to follow the line around, creating a rising spiral similar to a circular ramp (Step 2a).

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

If using a scalpel, take the flat-angled-edge blade and holding the scalpel at almost 90 degrees to the wax begin to scrape the wax away (Steps 2b and 2c). Essentially this is the same technique as filing the wax, but this method is slower and offers more control for the beginner. The acute angle of the tip is ideal for keeping the 90-degree angle where the rising levels of the spiral meet. You may find you prefer a combination of file then scalpel.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3

Once the flat spiral has been created, it’s time to begin turning it into a rounded form. Looking at the spiral from the top, create a line running down the centre of the ramp by lightly marking with a scriber, a marker pen, or depending on your confidence just use an imaginary one (Step 3a). Use a flat scalpel blade or a file to round up the outer edge of the ramp towards your centre line (Steps 3b and 3c). This process is similar to the one used in creating the dome.

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4c.

Step 4

The next step is to work from the inside to the centre line. Using the scriber, deepen the original scribed line that described the spiral until it is approximately 2mm deep (Step 4a), and then begin to round up the edge with the flat side of the crevice blade in a similar manner to the outer edge (Steps 4b and 4c). This step is repeated until both sides of the rounded spiral match.

Step 4d.

Work over the entire piece, gradually bringing the entire piece to completion. Attempting to complete one part before moving on to the next will create an uneven surface that will be extremely difficult to correct. Finish with wire wool (Step 4d).

EXERCISE 4

Concave Spiral

The concave spiral.

This exercise has a similar purpose to the convex spiral, but utilizes round-tipped tools. The starting point is the same as the domed spiral from the previous exercise, but with a slight difference.

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1c.

Step 1d.

Step 1

Sketch and scribe a spiral as before (Step 1a). Using the dividers, mark a line 3mm from the bottom of the square block. File the corners away as before, but leave the marked area at the bottom to create a ledge (Steps 1b, 1c). This will require a far more precise use of the file than in Exercise 3. The filed surface can be further refined with a chisel scalpel blade (Step 1d).

Step 2.

Step 2

Create a ramp exactly as in the previous exercise.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3

Draw an imaginary line in the centre of the ramp or, if you have difficulty with that, use a marker pen. Starting with the round-edge blade, held at approximately 35 degrees, begin scraping wax away along the line, gradually deepening the groove created and extending its width until you have created a concave channel running spirally from the raised centre to the lower and open end of the spiral. It’s better to create a shallow channel at first along the entire length of the spiral, then go over it, gradually deepening and widening along the whole length (Steps 3a, 3b). This will give you a much more even and graduated concave curve. As with the convex spiral above, do not attempt to complete one section before moving on to the next.

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4

Sharpen up the definition of the spiral with a pointed scraping tool by running along the inside edge of the spiral, creating a shallow groove (Step 4a). Smooth the finished piece with wire wool (Step 4b).

Wax finishing techniques

Before taking your carved wax to the casters or presenting it to a client you should try to finish it as well as you possibly can depending on the amount of detail you have included.

There are several ways of doing this.

First of all, you should try to use your scalpel to smooth those areas where you can still see the marks left by the wax file; you can use a bit of emery paper or wire wool to make the wax even smoother. This is already a good enough finish for the wax if you still need to work on it after it has been cast.

If you would like to obtain an extra smooth finish and/or make it very shiny, you then use white spirit or a few drops of methylated spirit on some kitchen roll. You can rub this on top of the wax to take off all minor scratches created by the scalpel blade or wire wool. Alternatively, some people like to use an old pair of tights to get a superfine finish.

Another method you can try is flaming. Using a torch with a soft flame, gently stroke the flame over the surface of the piece. Start by keeping the flame a little way away, then either get closer to the wax or move further from it, depending on the effect. This procedure will melt the surface, eradicating any marks and leaving a glossy, shiny surface. Be careful not to let the flame linger too long in any one spot and cause too much melting. Imagine that the flame is like a paintbrush and you are almost painting varnish over the surface. This method is not recommended for forms with fine details or sharp crisp edges as the flame would melt the surface and soften the edges of your careful hard work.

Using a spirit lamp is very similar except that the spirit lamp stays in one place and you need to move the wax closer to or further from it for the same effect. Be careful not to burn your fingers.

These techniques are not always appropriate. Finely detailed pieces and textured pieces will not benefit from these finishing techniques. The ‘Blossom’ ring in Chapter 7 is a good example of a carving that will lose important elements from these finishing techniques. A piece like that is better finished in the metal.

CHAPTER 4

Hollowing, Repairing and Recycling

An issue that comes up regularly with carved waxes is weight: solid, three-dimensional forms can be very heavy when cast in metal.

Weight therefore is an important consideration. If the piece is in precious metal, then it can become very expensive to produce. This increased cost in turn makes the selling price that much higher, and so you may wait much longer for a sale.

‘Mermaid’s Treasure Chest’ ring by Russell Lownsbrough.

It’s not only financial considerations that come into play here; there are considerations for the wearer too. Earrings that are too heavy are simply unwearable, and brooches may distort the shape of the clothes to which they are fastened. Other items may simply be uncomfortable. A sufficiently heavy pendant with a bit of momentum behind it could actually be painful!

It’s easy to be deceived by the relative lightness of wax. It’s also easy to be seduced by the freedom wax allows into making large flamboyant items. If that’s where you want to go, be prepared to hollow out your waxes. You’ll need to plan ahead and leave space for hollowing out, which can be very tricky indeed if your entire piece is covered in fine detail.

HOLLOWING THE WAX

In the first part of this chapter you will practise the valuable skill of hollowing out waxes, starting with two of the exercises from the previous chapter and finishing with a new project to carve and hollow out. There’s another in Chapter 5.

As already stated, there are many reasons why it’s a good idea to hollow out a carving. One of the hazards of hollowing out is removing too much material. This can lead to wall thicknesses that are too thin, or actually going through a wall. A wall that is too thin may not appear a problem, but you may have a bad cast due to metal not flowing properly or, if you subsequently reproduce an item with a mould, difficulty with wax injection.

A good minimum wall thickness is 0.8mm. Thinner walls can be cast, but 0.8mm usually ensures a good cast.

One of the dangers of hollowing out is removing too much material and either having a too-thin wall thickness or actually going through the wall. A good minimum wall thickness is 0.8mm. Thinner walls can be cast, but 0.8mm usually ensures a good cast.

The wax wedge

How do you gauge wall thickness? Often it’s easy to measure with a vernier or dixieme gauge. Other times, however, it’s not easy to get either of these tools into a hollow form to measure. This is when the translucency of wax is useful.

When held up to the light, the translucency of the wax will give a range of intensity of colour according to the thickness of the wax. By comparing the colour intensity of your carving with the colour of the wedge and by looking at the thickness of the side, you will be able to quite accurately estimate the wall thickness in any area that you cannot easily measure with either a vernier or dixieme gauge.

So it’s worthwhile keeping a prepared piece of wedge-shaped wax in each colour handy to help you gauge thickness in this manner.

Hollowing out the dome

Take the dome from Exercise 2. On the underneath you will still have a mark in the centre. First take the dividers and set them to 2mm. Place one point at the edge of the circle and carefully run the dividers around the edge to scribe a circle 2mm inside the edge of the flat bottom of the dome. Position the tip of the pointed scalpel blade on the centre mark perpendicular to the wax and rotate the blade to gouge out a cone-shaped depression in the back of the dome.

Once you have ‘drilled’ part way into the back of the dome, begin to lean the blade so that the hole widens until you reach the circular mark you created earlier with the dividers. Now replace the pointy blade with the round one and, using the same motion, begin to round out the concave depression you have started. Eventually the concave interior should mirror the convex exterior. There are two ways to gauge the thickness of the wax: one is to use a dixieme gauge, the other is to use a wax wedge (see box).

As an alternative method, if you own or have access to a pendant motor, micro-motor or similar, you can use a round burr to remove the bulk of the wax and then smooth it out using the round scalpel. The rough surface created by the burr will be harder to get smooth, so don’t go too deep with the burr or you will not allow yourself enough thickness to get a smooth surface with a scraping tool.

This may take some time to perfect, and like all the exercises in this section it is worth repeating purely for practice.

Hollowing the pyramid

Take the pyramid from Exercise 1. Looking at the base of the pyramid, take the dividers and mark a border 2mm from the outer edge of the pyramid base, forming a square. Using a scriber, mark diagonals from corner to corner to create an X, which will reveal the centre and create four triangles.

Holding the pointed scalpel, cut along the lines along the edges of one of the triangles that you have just created. Hold the blade angled at about 35–45 degrees, making sure that you are pointing the tip into the centre of the triangle. You are actually making a shallow cut at this point, instead of using the usual scraping motion.

Now cut along the same line with the blade pointing in the other direction, to create a shallow V-shaped cut. Cutting down from the outer edge, remove a wedge of wax towards the centre, leaving an angled triangular depression in the wax.

Now take the pointed scalpel and move onto the next triangle and repeat the same steps. Once you have two triangles removed you can cut into the outer corner and the angle running toward the centre to get them nice and sharp.

Repeat with the opposite side and then tidy up the corners, working from the centre of each plane to the corner. Always work into corners, never out from corners – it’s the only way to keep them nice and sharp. This is especially important with wax as it is so soft in comparison to metal, and it’s extremely easy to damage sharp edges.

Hollow heart

In the previous two exercises it was very simple to gauge the wall thickness with the use of the vernier and dixieme gauges. However, this exercise has a deep undercut, making it more difficult to hollow out. Try and get the wall thickness to 1mm. It’s a relatively simple form with no intricate detail, so blue wax is perfect for this exercise.

Tools

• Scriber

• Dividers

• Wax file

• Flat and curved scrapers

• Pendant motor with round burr

• Wolf tool no.17

• Pin vice with round burr

Mark out a heart shape on a block of wax 25 × 25 × 12mm. The exact size is not crucial to this exercise, but this is a good size for a beginner. You may wish to repeat it at a smaller scale for practice. The asymmetry in this exercise is important for practising gauging wall thickness.

Saw and file around the outline of the heart, then mark a centre line around the resulting heart-shaped block. File from both sides until you have a pleasing form, leaving a flat space on the back. Smooth the surface with a flat-edged scraping tool, then use a curved scraping tool to scrape away one side of the heart to create a concave surface and blend into the convex side.

Once you’re satisfied with the exterior, proceed to hollowing out. On the reverse side, mark the edges of the opening with either an engraving tool or a chisel-ended scraping tool. The piece can be hollowed out in its entirety using a burr in a pin vice (don’t rotate this, just use as a scraper) or a Wolf no.17 or a similar home-made tool, but that’s slow and time-consuming, so it’s best if possible to use a burr in a pendant motor or micro-motor.

A burr around 4mm or 5mm should be fine for this task. When using either motor, try and keep the RPM quite low and use a light touch, almost stroking the wax. This stops the wax heating up and sticking to the burr. Keeping a low RPM is much easier with a micro-motor and holding it more like a pen makes it ideal for use with wax. (You don’t need an expensive or powerful micro-motor for wax; fairly inexpensive ones are easy to find on the internet.)

As the cavity inside the heart empties out, stop and check the wall thickness frequently by holding the heart and the wedge up to the light and comparing the colours to check progress. Once you are approaching the desired thickness, stop using the motor and switch to the scraping tools to smooth the interior and refine the wall thickness. Burrs can leave a quite uneven surface, which in some circumstances can be very attractive (textures will be covered in a later chapter), but for this exercise a smooth interior is your goal.

REPAIRING WAX

At some point you will undoubtedly break a wax. You may even have thinned the wall on the heart a little too zealously and gone through. Whether it’s now or later, you will need to learn how to repair wax.

There are a few ways to do this. What you need to know is that wax is more fragile in the repaired spot. Try not to repair it too many times as this area will become more and more brittle. Sometimes there are some small air bubbles in the repair joint.

When you repair a broken wax, you have to apply extra wax onto the joint as wax will adhere to the tool, so in order not to leave a depression on the repaired area, build a little extra around it. You will have to clean the excess off afterwards. You can support the broken pieces of wax with Blu Tack or use a little spot of superglue if necessary.

Don’t try and reshape the repaired area too quickly. Let the wax cool down completely or it won’t carve or file as nicely. You could even put it in the fridge temporarily to speed the process. Although carving wax melts at 115–120°C, it becomes nicely fluid at around 150°C, and this is a better working temperature for repairs and build up.

Professional wax pen

This is the best tool to make repairs. The pens come with a selection of tips and variable temperature control. You can use the pen in the same way as the methods described above. This is a much more accurate and efficient way of repairing broken waxes and is a worthwhile investment for a professional.

Scalpel and spirit lamp

With this method, light up the spirit lamp and heat up the scalpel blade onto it, then rest it onto a bit of wax you keep for repairs, collecting some molten wax on the blade. Holding together the pieces that have broken and need repairing, heat up the wax you previously picked up with the heated scalpel and rest it onto the broken part, making sure you melt together both sides that need to be joined. It is a bit tricky to repair wax in this way, but it can be done if you do not have access to more professional equipment. Dental tools are better than scalpel blades for this as they retain heat longer.

Soldering iron

You can buy a soldering iron from any DIY shops or from professional suppliers. The tip of the soldering iron will need sharpening or shaping up in order to be easier to use.

The process for the repair is the same. Wait until the iron is hot, then rest it onto the spare piece of wax to melt a bit of wax that you will use to repair the broken piece. Make sure the wax is properly melted and that you have a strong joint. It could be a bit tricky to use this method; you will need to be careful and not burn yourself while holding the soldering iron. A bit of practice will improve your technique.

RECYCLING WAX

It’s worth saving offcuts of wax as these can be recycled. A metal tin with parallel sides or sides angled outwards will be needed to melt the wax scraps in. Ensure that any bits of tape and paper that may have been stuck to the wax have been removed. Not many people recycle wax filings/shavings: you never know what you’ve got mixed in with the wax.

Place the tin with the offcuts on a hot plate. You could also do it on the cooker if it’s electric. Be warned, however – it will make the place smell like a giant candle, and not the perfumed kind. Make sure that the wax is completely melted. If it’s only partially or unevenly melted, you will have difficulty carving it later, and may find bubbles or fissures in the wax that will need repair, hampering your progress or at worst ruining your work. After the wax has completely melted, remove or turn off the heat, but leave the wax and the tin to cool down slowly.

Once you’ve used your tin for wax, keep it only for that. A selection of different tins is useful to create different-sized blocks of wax. By varying the amount of wax you put in, you can custom-make different thicknesses, so you don’t always have to cut off from a block. This is also a useful method to create thin sheets of wax.

CHAPTER 5

Rings

Rings are unlike other carved wax forms in that they are begun in a very different way and are also marked-out in preparation for carving in a different manner to other forms.

The first thing you’ll need to know is which finger size you are going to be working with, as this element can change the design of the ring itself. So it’s important to draw your design to the appropriate finger size before starting to check whether the design is feasible or to see how much it will be altered or distorted by sizing. The Udjat Eye rings by Danila have been scaled up for different sizes to keep the proportions of the Ancient Egyptian originals. The side view of the Signet Ring exercise (see below right) from later in this chapter also illustrates how size can alter proportion.

‘Wolf’ ring by Danila Tarcinale.

Symmetry: rings may or may not be symmetrical. You don’t always have to carve both sides of a ring when creating a master pattern. You can carve half a ring, get that cast, clean it up, make a mould, cast two and solder the two halves together to make a symmetrical ring. This slightly longer winded method is a lot easier than trying to make two symmetrical sides to a ring.

Egyptian Udjat Eye rings by Danila Tarcinale.

The difference finger size makes.

In the photograph below the first ring has rotational symmetry; it was repeated twice, the two halves soldered together and a setting added to create the master for the second ring. The third ring has mirror symmetry – it had to be carved all in one go.

Ring symmetries.

Division of a ring.

For reference, different sections of a ring will be referred to in this book following the rough demarcations shown in the diagram below.

Carving a ring

The first thing to do when beginning any carving is to cut an appropriate length of ring wax tube. The length should be enough to easily accommodate your design. The design will dictate the profile of wax tube you select. The exercises in this chapter will introduce you to the different wax profiles and the sort of project suited to them. There are several profiles of wax tube: U-shaped, concentric hole and off-centre hole. If you’re not going to invest in the entire range of profiles, get the largest U-shaped one as it’s the most versatile. You can file excess away easier than you can add additional wax.

Once the length of wax has been cut, the next step is to size the wax correctly. After which, you can transfer the design and carve it. The exercises in this chapter are all fairly simple forms, ideally suited to blue wax. Designs with more detail may be better suited to green wax.

Cutting (and squaring) the tube

On a fresh length of ring tube the ends of the tube are perpendicular to the hole through the tube. When cutting off a length of ring tube, it’s good to keep the ends square; this will help with marking out and measuring future lengths. To help you keep the ends square, mark two lines on the tube and cut between them. After the desired length has been cut off, file up to the remaining line on the tube. The end is now square for when you next need it. If you are in a class, it’s simply good manners to leave the tube as you would wish to find it. If the tube is not evenly cut, you will have to use a set square and a file to correct the end.

Sizing the ring wax tube

Sizing the ring wax can be done by using common hand tools dividers, a saw or wax file, but the best tools for the job are the wax ring-sizer or the Matt reamer described in Chapter 2. This is an important part of the process, so whichever method you have available or choose, take your time and check progress constantly to avoid mistakes.

Working out the inner diameter

An example of working out the adjustment to the inner radius of a ring tube:

Finger size R ½ is inside diameter 19mm.
The inside diameter of a ring tube is 15mm.
19mm − 15mm = 4mm.
Radius adjustment is 4mm divided by 2 = 2mm.

Hand tool method

Using the dividers, mark and cut a slice of ring wax large enough to accommodate your entire ring design.

Before altering the finger size, decide on the new size and put markings on both sides of your piece of ring wax and guidelines for sizing. Measure the internal diameter of the ring wax with the aid of the vernier gauge. Ring wax usually has a 15mm internal diameter. There have been discrepancies between different wax manufacturers so it’s worth double-checking with the vernier gauge.

The next step is to decide what the new inner diameter is going to be. Consult the finger size comparison chart (see page 126). Subtract the original diameter from the new diameter and divide by two to determine the adjustment to the radius and the border around the existing hole (see the example in the box above).

Set the dividers to this measurement and mark a circle on the flat surface of the wax on both sides of your slice of wax, using the existing hole to guide your dividers.

If sawing, use a skip-a-tooth saw-blade, and don’t get too close to your lines; you can always file up after. If filing, file away the excess wax by beginning with the coarse side of the wax file then using the smoother side as you begin to approach the marked line. Keep on switching sides and work over an area rather than in a small section. This will help you to keep the ring nice and round. Keep checking the ring against a ring-stick, and when you get close to the correct size switch to a standard half-round hand file. With careful use, this will give you a very smooth internal surface.

Whether saw or filing, as has been said before it is very easy to remove too much wax due to the soft nature of the wax, especially on an area that you can’t see such as the far side of the ring.

Reaming stick

The tool resembles a ring mandrel with a blade down one edge. Begin as above, with or without guidelines. The guidelines can be useful as it’s sometimes easy to lean a little heavily to one side, meaning that the inside of the ring can become skewed, which can be an issue for symmetrical rings. Insert the reaming stick into the hole of the ring wax and turn to shave wax from the inside of the ring. You will have to do the same from both sides. Have a ring-sizer handy so you can ream out a bit then check the measurement until you have reached the correct size; the measurements on the reamer should not be relied on. Proceed slowly, constantly checking the ring size.

Matt reamer

A slightly different approach is required for this tool. The finger size is adjusted before the section is cut from the main length. The end of the tube can be smoothed with a double-sided blade inserted through the tool.

To size a ring with this tool, begin by setting the cutter to the correct length. This is similar to the method of determining the size adjustment for the hand tool method. However, instead of marking on the ring wax, the reaming blade on the tool is adjusted to the desired length. Using the same measurements as in the example above, the tool has been set to 2mm using a vernier gauge to assist the correct depth.

Insert the reaming tool into the wax tube and rotate while pushing slowly into the tube until the chosen length of the ring wax has been reamed to the desired finger size. Take the reamer out as you progress in order to check how far you have got, and measure with a vernier gauge. If you do not have a vernier gauge, you can cut partway through the ring wax to create a line visible from the inside and work up to that.

PROJECT 1

Wavy Band

A simple project, this sort of variation on a band ring is ideal for concentric tube wax. It’s a fairly freestyle ring, ideal for practising sizing. The ring is about 10mm wide at its widest point. After you’ve cut a piece of wax roughly that size, you must size it. The size is your choice – why not make it fit one of your own fingers? If you picked a small size to begin with, you may have a fairly thick ring. If that’s the case you’ll need to file the outside of the ring down until it’s no more than 4mm thick. Anything thicker than 4mm will be pretty uncomfortable between the fingers; many people find that 3mm is the maximum inter-digit ring thickness they can comfortably wear.

Tools

• Dividers

• Skip-a-tooth saw-blades

• Saw frame

• Wax file

• Coarse half-round hand file

• Round and flat scraping tools

• Wire wool

Step 1.

Step 1

Once you have sized the ring and adjusted the thickness appropriately, take a permanent marker pen and draw a wavy line around the circumference of the ring. Use a mixture of loose and tight bends. Don’t make the bends in the line too tight or you’ll make the project unnecessarily hard; this is just a practice exercise.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2

Begin to file away the wax to make a wavy band by following the pen line and leaving a border of around 3mm either side of it (Step 2a). Start with the wax file and switch to a coarse needle file as the shape becomes more refined (Step 2b). Taper the edges to the centre line so that the cross-section of the ring is triangular. Smooth the surface of the ring with either a scalpel or wire wool. The wire wool will soften all the edges, whereas the scalpel will keep them crisp and sharp.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3

Try varying the planes that make up the ring. In this example a curved tip scalpel has been used to create concave surfaces on the inside of each bend; on the outside of each bend the band is convex to emphasize the ‘wave’ nature of the ring (Steps 3a, 3b).

You might like to revisit this later to add tool marks that give the impression of water.

PROJECT 2

Shield Signet Ring

This project uses the U-shaped wax tube. Many rings, especially those with a distinct head, are best carved from this type of wax tube as the flat top and parallel sides are invaluable for precise marking-out.

We used a 17mm length of wax tube for this, which is a fairly good size for practice, cut from a 31 × 34mm U-section wax tube. This ring was made at size M, but you may wish to choose your own size.

Tools

• Dividers

• Wax file

• Coarse half-round hand file

• Scraping tools

• Wire wool

Step 1.

Step 1

Once you have cut and sized the ring appropriately, decide how thick the head of the ring is going to be. If this is your first time, give yourself plenty of room; this signet was 5mm thick. To mark this on the ring, set your dividers to 5mm, and use the inner edge of the ring to make a mark on the side of the ring between the top edge and the inside. Put the dividers on the top edge and adjust to the mark made from the inside, then using the top edge as a guide run the dividers around all four sides of the ring. This is a very heavy head, but it will give you plenty to play with once the exercise is finished. Cut or file this area off, making sure you keep to the guidelines and retain a perfectly level top plane.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2

Using your dividers find the centre in the same way you did in the pyramid exercise in Chapter 3. The shield here is 14mm wide, so using your dividers make two marks 7mm either side of the centre line, then reset your dividers from the edge to the mark and make the two lines that define the sides of the shield. Sketch in the two curves that form the pointed end of the shield by hand. Don’t worry about getting them perfect; as long as you retain the centre line, you can adjust the curves later. You may wish to adjust them to a more pleasing shape as the carving progresses. Use your dividers to mark the thickness of the lower half of the shank, in this case 2mm. From the halfway mark sketch the shape of the shoulders onto the wax as they come up to the sides of the shield. Saw and file away the surplus wax, file smooth and extend the centre line around the circumference of the ring (Steps 2a–c).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3d.

Step 3

File the curves onto the sides of the shield and shape up the shank using the wax file to begin with, moving to a coarse hand file as you approach the final form (Step 3a). The centre line around the circumference will be a great help in checking the symmetry of the carving. Shape up the shoulders and the shank (Steps 3b, 3c). You may have to get a little creative around the back of the shield to get a satisfying curve on the shank. File away all the last marking-out lines and finish with wire wool, emery paper or a flat scraping tool (Step 3d).

Step 4.

Step 4 (optional)

With the signet finished, you can now play around with the finished piece. Try altering the curvature of the shank and the shoulders, or perhaps come back when you’ve tried out some of the textures in Chapter 9.

PROJECT 3

Bombe Ring

The bombe ring is a vintage ring style still very popular today. It gives the maker a large surface to set with stones, engrave, carve or adorn in whatever way appeals. You could even leave it plain. This ring is a type suited to the off-centre wax ring tube. However, for the sake of instruction this exercise will be carved from a block.

Sometimes the ring wax is not big enough to accommodate the design. Sometimes the finger size you need to carve is too large or too small for the tube. Sometimes, simply, you have no ring wax when you need it.

To start with, find a block of wax large enough to accommodate your design. It will need to have two parallel surfaces and a corner with a right angle that connects them. If you do not have a block with these requirements, you will have to prepare one. The ring in this exercise was size P (18mm internal diameter) and the block was 18mm thick, but as long as the requirements for starting are met, the dimensions can be changed.

To begin this project, it must be marked out correctly. If any measurements or dimensions misalign, it can adversely affect the proportions and aesthetics of the finished piece – not a major issue with a simple ring like this, but on a more complex project it could be, so now is a good time to practise.

Tools

• Dividers

• Wax file

• Coarse hand file

• Saw frame

• Spiral saw-blades

• Scraping tools

• Emery paper

• Wire wool

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1

Start marking out the ring by using the right angle to put a cross on both sides of the block of wax. The centre of this can then be used to mark out the finger size on both sides. The shank thickness and the height of the head of the ring should all be marked out with the dividers on both sides (Step 1a). Sketch in the curves from the shank over the shoulders to the top of the head (Step 1b). You can make a template if you need to, or just sketch freehand as you’ll be adjusting by eye as you sculpt the form of the ring.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2d.

Step 2

Drill a hole through the block, insert a spiral saw-blade and pierce out the centre of the ring (Steps 2a, 2b). Keep the blade as perpendicular to the wax as possible and don’t worry about getting extremely close to the line; it’s better to file up later. Turn the wax over and check that you haven’t strayed over the line at regular intervals. Accuracy is far more important than speed at this point. Once you have completed a circle and removed the core, begin to file the inside of the ring to smooth out the rough saw marks. Begin with the wax file and as you approach the lines switch to the coarse hand file (Steps 2c, 2d). Check the hole with a ring stick and file as necessary. Cautious filing with the hand file should leave a pretty smooth surface inside.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3

Saw around the outside of your ring (Step 3a). Again, don’t stress about getting close to your lines; stay away and file up to avoid removing wax where you don’t want to. Wax is soft and it’s easy to go astray. When you’ve filed the profile of the ring, put a centre line around its circumference, as you did in the previous exercise (Step 3b). At this point you have created a section of off-centre wax tube.

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4c.

Step 4d.

Step 4

Shape the shank profile with the wax file as you did in the previous exercise (Step 4a). Shape the profile from the top, rounding the sides and blending the curves into the shank (Step 4b). Finally round the top as you did in the dome exercise in Chapter 3 (Steps 4c, 4d).

A variation on the bombe.

It’s possible to create variations on the bombe ring. You can experiment with different dimensions and curves, making the ring more egg-shaped or more oval, or you can alter the width or shape of the ring shank, and so on.

Hollowing out

Both the signet and the bombe will be extremely heavy when cast in metal, so you will probably want to hollow them out. The hollowing-out process for these rings is similar to the hollowing-out exercises in Chapter 4. For a beginner a wall thickness of 2mm is adequate; with practice you can attempt a thinner wall thickness, such as 1mm, which will still cast very well. Thinner walls than this are not recommended, because the casting is less likely to come out well and there may be holes or porosity as a result. To give yourself a guideline, open the dividers to 2mm and use them to scribe a line inside the top edge of the ring on both sides.

Rings and shrinkage

As noted earlier, waxes shrink when cast. The effect of this on rings is to reduce the finger size. Generally this is around half a size. There are two ways to approach this: either make the ring half a size larger or stretch the ring a little after casting.

Many people, us among them, prefer to have their casting come out half a size small to allow plenty of freedom when cleaning up and polishing.

CHAPTER 6

Beginner Projects

In this chapter are three relatively simple projects to develop your abilities and build your confidence.

‘Lion Head’ by Danila Tarcinale.

PROJECT 1

Flower and Leaf

A simple flower with a leaf bail: this two-part project requires the student to get two small carvings to fit together in a simple fashion. Either of the two components could easily be used with other projects if the cast components were to have moulds made later. Sometimes it’s worthwhile breaking projects down into simpler parts that can be assembled later or used in multiple ways. You can find the drawing for this in Chapter 1.

Tools

• Dividers

• Scalpels

• Scriber

• Drill bits, burrs

• Swivel-head pin vice, a.k.a. hand chuck

• Wax file

• Piercing saw

• Spiral wax saw-blades

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1

Open the dividers at 10mm and scribe a circle on a slice of wax of at least 5 to 6mm thickness (Steps 1a, 1b). Without adjusting your dividers, choose a point on the circle and start to divide the circumference into six equal sections, which will become the petals.

Use your scribe to draw lines joining opposite points via the centre.

Step 1c.

Step 1d.

Step 1e.

Put a 1.5mm drill bit into your hand chuck and drill a hole through the centre (Step 1c). (Using a hand chuck gives far greater control than a motor.) Use a 2.5mm round burr to start opening up the hole and drill down to around three-quarters of the height of the head of the burr (Steps 1d, 1e). Progress to a round burr of the same size of the stone you are using. Check if the stone table is in line with the wax. You’ll be more accurate gradually increasing the burr size than if you attempt to go straight in with the final size burr.

Step 2

Open the dividers at 1mm (or 1.5mm if you are feeling cautious) and create a line around the edge of the hole (Step 2a). This line represents the thickness of the setting wall.

Step 2a.

Now that you have marked the setting you can cut around the circle and straighten the sides with your wax file.

Step 2b.

Using a triangular needle file, file into the side of the circle where the lines meet the edge, creating indentations the same depth as the needle file (Step 2b).

Step 2c.

Step 2d.

With your dividers still set at 1mm (or at 1.5mm) draw a line around the top edge of the circle to provide yourself with a guideline for the thickness of the petals (Step 2c). This constant creation of guidelines may seem excessive, but it’s good for beginners to set them constantly as reminders. Using your wax file, start filing the bottom edge of the circle in the same way you did to create the dome (Step 2d).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3d.

Step 3

Divide the underneath of the flower into petals with a scriber, then deepen the lines with a triangular file (Steps 3a, 3b). Round the edges of each petal with a safety back file (Step 3c). This file will lessen the chances of accidentally filing the adjacent petal. Refine the surface further with the crevice scalpel blade (Step 3d).

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4

Use your dividers to create a guideline around the top edge of the petals. Deepen the mark around the setting of the stone and the petal edge with a scriber. Cut into this line using the pointy scalpel to create an edge to work to (Steps 4a, 4b).

Step 4c.

Step 4d.

Using a round-tip scalpel, scoop and scrape out the wax in each petal in a similar way to hollowing the dome (Step 4c). Leave a ridge between the petals and take care not to go past the line around the edge of the petals and the setting. When the petals are suitably hollowed, you can neaten up around the base of the setting with the pointy scalpel (Step 4d).

Step 4e.

Step 4f.

Using a combination of the round and pointy scalpel blades, refine and smooth the top edge of the petals (Steps 4e, 4f). Use wire wool to clean inside the petals, around the top edge and also around the bottom of the flower.

Step 5a.

Step 5

Cut a leaf shape from a slice of wax of the same thickness of the flower (Step 5a). The length and the width of the leaf are up to your personal taste and flair but don’t make the leaf too small. Stick roughly to the proportions in the picture.

Step 5b.

Step 5c.

Step 5d.

With your wax file, file away part of the leaf to match the profile of the underneath of the flower. Drill a 1mm hole in the opposite end of the leaf. The hole should be opened up with a burr to accommodate the size of the chain to be used (Step 5b, 5c). In this case a 2mm round burr was used. Open your dividers to 1mm and mark around the hole and along the edges of the leaf. With a scalpel scrape and carve away the excess wax on the underside of the leaf, taking extra care around the loop (Step 5d).

Step 6a.

Step 6b.

Step 6c.

Step 6

Use a scriber to mark the skeleton of the leaf (Step 6a). You can use the scribe, the pointy scalpel, a graver or the back of a medium flat scalpel tip to deepen and refine these lines (Step 6b). Clean the leaf with the wire wool. Step 6c shows the finished piece.

PROJECT 2

Letter

This is a simple letter pendant in relief. Students can choose how deep they want the carving to be.

Tools

• Scriber

• Double-sided tape

• Talcum powder

• Saw frame with skip tooth saw-blades

• Wax file

• Scalpel with pointed and flat tips

• Needle files

• 0000 wire wool

Step 1a.

Step 1

Draw a letter A based on our example, and transfer the drawing to tracing paper using a fine indelible marker (Step 1a). (Although it’s not essential for this exercise, always keep your original design and stick a copy to the wax; you may need it for reference later.) Prepare a suitable slice of wax of the same size of the letter, place double-sided tape on the back of the letter you have just traced, and position it firmly onto the wax.

Step 1b.

To transfer the pattern onto the wax, use a sharp scribe to prick one tiny hole after another, tracing the lines of the letter. Make sure the point of your scribe goes through the paper and into the wax. Check you have left your mark on the wax by carefully lifting a corner of the tracing paper to see. The trick with ‘pricking through’ is to leave enough of a mark to be visible but not so deep as to be difficult to remove later. It is something of an art; practice makes perfect (Step 1b).

Step 1c.

Step 1d.

Remove the tracing paper to reveal the pattern. To make the dots more visible, rub some talcum powder over the surface (Step 1c). Join the dots using the scribe and add more talcum powder if you need to make the line more evident (Step 1d).

Step 2a.

Step 2

Place a skip tooth saw-blade into your piercing frame and cut around the letter just outside the line to allow yourself a bit of margin for error (Step 2a).

Step 2b.

Try to saw-pierce, keeping your saw-blade as perpendicular as possible to the plane with the design. It’s very easy to remove too much wax from the reverse of a carving by not noticing the angle you are sawing at. Check you are on track at regular intervals. Use your wax file to neaten and refine the sides (Step 2b).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3d.

Step 3

Time to give the letter ‘A’ a bit of three-dimensionality. Select the areas to be lowered and begin to shape them. Initially you can use the wax file (Steps 3a, 3b). When you find areas inaccessible, change to a needle file or scraping tools such as the pointed and the square-edge scalpel blades (Steps 3c, 3d).

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4

Carefully rub all marks with the ‘0000’ wire wool (Step 4a). If you feel some parts are too fragile, hold your work on a bit of Blu Tack while cleaning the marks. For a superfine finish, you can also clean your wax with white spirit before taking it to the caster (Step 4b).

PROJECT 3

Fish Locket

This project demonstrates how to create paired mirror carvings. This is useful if you want to reduce the weight of a pendant and make a hollow one, create two paired brooches or, with the addition of a hinge and catch to the cast item, make a locket of some sort; or, on a smaller scale, a pair of earrings or cufflinks. For a hollow pendant the two halves would be cast separately and then soldered. In the case of the locket, the hinge and catch are better made and added to the metal castings.

Tools

• Scriber

• Piercing saw

• Spiral saw-blades

• Skip-a-tooth saw-blades

• Swivel headed pin vice (hand chuck)

• Dividers

• Scrapers (flat/chisel, crevice, round)

• Scorpers (optional)

This is a slightly more complicated project than the first two. It has multiple layers, so it’s important to approach it methodically: creating each level, getting each layer and the overall form right, before moving on to finer details.

When working on a piece like this, it’s important to work on both halves simultaneously. Don’t attempt to complete one half and then try and replicate it. That’s extremely difficult (though not impossible), but you’ll find it much easier to work on both at the same time, doing a bit of one and then the other so that both halves progress at pretty much the same rate.

For this project we have photographed the different stages with a range of suitable tools that can be used at each point. Many wax carvers have their own preferences, so you might like to try alternatives and see which suit you best.

Fish sketch – photocopy or trace.

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1

Each half of the fish is 30 × 25 × 6mm, so you’ll need two pieces of wax large enough to accommodate the design. Make a copy of your design on tracing paper; always keep your original design for reference (Step 1a). Stick the two pieces of wax together with double-sided tape and stick the design on top with the tape also (Step 1b). The wax can be stuck together with superglue, but superglue can crack off the wax and then you’ll have to align and re-glue the pieces together. The tape has a better adherence and works better for this project.

Step 1c.

Transfer the design to the wax by pricking through and complete tracing the outline with a scriber. Rub a little talc or baby powder onto the wax if you need to make the lines more visible (Step 1c).

Step 2.

Step 2

Roughly saw out the shape with a spiral saw-blade before switching to a skip-a-tooth saw-blade to get closer to the outline, and finally file around the edges until you reach the outline of the fish. Care must be taken to ensure that all work at this stage is at right angles to the top surface, otherwise your two halves will have different profiles. Proceed slowly and carefully and constantly check your progress by looking at your wax side-on to see how well you’re doing. This is quite difficult for a beginner, but an excellent exercise.

The alternate method is to cut one half first, then glue/tape it to the second block and cut around it. This can work just as well, but be extremely careful not to damage your first piece while cutting your second.

Making two paper templates and cutting both pieces separately doesn’t tend to work well as the discrepancies between the outlines of the two halves will be difficult to resolve.

Step 3a.

Step 3

Separate the halves and sketch the design details onto the second half of the fish (Step 3a). Alternatively trace another template and prick through the details, the outline being unnecessary at this point.

Step 3b.

Drill a hole in the area between the body and the tail and remove the wax using a skip-a-tooth saw-blade (Step 3b). File up to the lines as necessary.

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4c.

Step 4

Now you can begin defining the different levels of the piece. Using a flat chisel-tip scalpel, chisel and scrape away the wax until the dorsal, ventral and tail fins are approximately one third of the thickness of the body (Step 4a). Begin giving form to the fish by rounding the edges of the body. Use a file where you can and scrapers where you can’t (Step 4b). Round up the tail and slope it down to the tail fin. This is similar to Exercise 3 in Chapter 3. Dip the body in behind the head to define the gills and contour the body where the tail meets the belly to define the form. Work on both halves simultaneously to keep the two halves matching, a bit on one then a bit on the other, so that they progress at the same rate. Select scrapers according to requirements and don’t be hesitant to change your tool accordingly. Use the tip of the pointy crevice tool to deepen the line defining the eye and round the eye up into a tiny dome (Step 4c). Put a little domed flourish on the tip of the tail; again this is similar to the exercise from Chapter 3.

Step 5.

Step 5

Smooth the fish with fine wire wool and add details. The concave fin details on the left of the photograph (Step 5) were all achieved by scraping with the tools on the left, and the line details on the right were worked on with the tools on the right. You don’t have to do both; we’re just offering possible variations.

Step 6a.

Step 6

Hollow both halves of the fish out, taking care not to make the walls too thin and break the surface (Step 6a). Check the waxes against the light and measure the thinnest areas with the dixieme gauge.

Step 6b.

Further texture in the form of fish scale can be added to the carving (Step 6b). Texture will be dealt with in Chapter 9, so wait until you’ve read that chapter before returning here.

CHAPTER 7

Intermediate Projects

The following two projects form the basis of our intermediate course, ‘Further Adventures in Wax Carving’.

The ring is intended as a fairly free project. The design is not set in stone; students may place the flowers anywhere they choose, or add to or subtract from the number shown here. Similarly the shank may be carved in any way that the student feels is aesthetically pleasing. The point of the exercise is to produce a very detailed ring but allowing the journey, to a certain extent, to decide the final form. It looks precise and controlled, but is actually quite a free-spirited project.

‘Heart with Blossom’ ring by Danila Tarcinale.

The kingfisher was selected by a poll of our students as the project they’d most like to see in the book. It is a more structured project than the blossom ring in that figurative carvings must bear some resemblance to whatever they are depicting.

Both these projects have a higher level of detail than the beginner projects and starter exercises and will therefore be done in green wax, which is more suited to finer detail. Both of these projects have textured finishes and will not need a finish beyond that achieved with the carving tools.

Both projects go through three essential stages: roughing out, refining form and finishing touches.

PROJECT 1

Blossom Ring

Dimensions are not important in this project and the components of the design may be placed anywhere the student desires. What is important, as always with a ring, is the finger size.

Tools

• Scrapers (flat/chisel, round-tipped, crevice)

• Wax files, saw-blades or burr

• Crevice tip scalpel

• Scriber

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1c.

Step 1d.

Step 1: Roughing Out

Begin by cutting off a length of ring wax; use the tube with the off-centre hole (Step 1a). The ring here is 15mm wide, which is a fairly good width for this project. Next ream out the wax to the correct finger size and sketch a few circles on the upper thicker section of the ring (Step 1b). These will become your flowers. With a flat chisel dig around the circles and using flat scrapers lower the surrounding wax until you have three (or whatever number you choose) shallow drum shapes standing proud of the ring (Step 1c). Overlapping flowers should be at slightly different heights (Step 1d). Now that you have the flowers placed, sketch in some leaves on the lower level below the flowers and, using the same technique, define these. You should now have a ring with three layers: the rudimentary flowers, the rudimentary leaves and the shank. You can taper the shank down a little, but leave plenty of material to play with later on.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2: Refining Form

Start to shape the flowers with a round-tipped scraper. Dig in around the centre of the flower to delineate the centre and scrape outwards from it to create a crude flower shape (Steps 2a, 2b, 2c).

Step 2d.

Step 2e.

Step 2f.

Step 2g.

Step 2h.

Step 2i.

Define the centre of each flower (pistil) with a pointed scraper (Step 2d). Create the petals with a flat chisel scraper by engraving lines from the edge to the centre, cutting a small V shape at the start of each dividing line and rounding the corners off until you have a nice rounded edge to your petal (Step 2e). Undercut the petals with a pointed/crevice tool to make them nice and three-dimensional (Step 2f). Sharpen up the leaves and engrave a line down the centre for the midrib with the reverse of a small chisel scraper, then create an inclined plane running from the edge of each leaf to the midrib with a medium chisel scraper (Step 2g). Undercut the leaves with a pointed scraper (Step 2h). Dimple the centre of each petal edge with a round scraper for that classic blossom petal shape (Step 2i).

Step 2j.

Step 2k.

Step 2l.

Step 2m.

With the carving of the main focus of the ring well underway, it’s time to work on the shank a little. Sketch a gnarly twig shape running around the ring with a marker pen (Step 2j). Don’t overthink this; the more cavalier your approach, the more natural it will look. Roughly remove the wax around your shank using wax files, wax saw-blades or a burr in motor (Step 2k). Refine the shape by trimming and scraping. Smooth it off slightly (not too much) and create a bark effect with a small round-tipped scraper (Step 2l). Scrape the tool in long strokes repeatedly along the shank so that the tool marks are contiguous. By not over-smoothing the shank, discrepancies in the surface will disrupt the tool marks, giving a more natural bark effect (Step 2m).

Step 2n.

Trim the undersides of the ring and pierce out the gaps between twig, leaf and flower. This can be done entirely with the crevice-tip scalpel, however you may prefer to start the piercing with a drill bit held in a hand chuck or pin vice (Step 2n).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3d.

Step 3e.

Step 3f.

Step 3g.

Step 3: Finishing Touches

Put the veins in the leaves with a scriber (Step 3a) and texture the petals with a small round-tip scraping tool (Step 3b). Lightly scrape from the centre to the outside edge of the petal. Level the top of each pistil (Step 3c) and drill a small hole (0.8mm is fine) in the centre a couple of millimetres deep (Step 3d). Open the hole up with a round burr (Step 3e); proceed very carefully at this point as green wax can be very fragile. Divide the resulting ring into eight segments with a scalpel tip (Step 3f) and separate them as much as you feel bold enough to do. Use the tiniest most delicate movements of the scalpel. If you’re feeling particularly brave, you can round the tip of each anther with a cup burr held between your fingers (Step 3g), although it’s probably better to do this final action after casting.

Step 3h.

Step 3i.

This project needs no finishing beyond the tool marks made (Steps 3h, 3i). Any wax scrapings can be removed by brushing lightly with a small artist’s paintbrush.

PROJECT 2

Kingfisher

The kingfisher in this project is 45 × 28 × 6mm. The measurements are not crucial, but this is a good size for this project. Allow some extra thickness to give yourself a little room to play with the depth. The carving can be thinned out later in the process; don’t restrict yourself too early. The excess wax at the rear of the piece will support the more fragile areas while you’re working on them – not essential for this piece, but a good habit to acquire. Begin with a piece of wax around 3 or 4mm thicker than you need.

Trace the design in the sketch, and photocopy to the desired size.

Kingfisher sketch – photocopy or trace.

Tools

• Scriber

• Dividers

• Wax file

• Saw-blades

• Round, chisel and crevice scrapers

• Spitzstick scorper (optional)

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1c.

Step 1: Roughing out

Begin by transferring the design to the wax using the prick-through method. You can use a simplified version of the design with the wings as simple layers without each feather defined (Steps 1a, 1b). This avoids a mass of dots and makes the design easier to understand when transferred. Cut out the silhouette of the kingfisher, initially with a spiral saw-blade, and refine it with a skip-a-tooth saw-blade and files (Step 1c).

Step 1d.

Step 1e.

Begin to define the different layers starting with the furthest back, in this case the back wing. Lower the level of the wax on the back wing until it is a sloping plane 3mm lower at the shoulder and 4mm lower at the wingtip. Use the large and medium chisel-tip scrapers for this (Steps 1d, 1e). Apart from the talons, this is the only really completely different plane in the piece; almost all the other levels flow from one to the other.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2: Refining Form

Next begin to shape the head and tail of the bird, tapering the wax down from the main body to the extremities. Initially taper down about 2.5mm from the head to the tip of the beak and 2mm from the back edge of the wing to the tip of the tail feathers (Steps 2a, 2b). You now have the rough overall shape of the bird and the different levels defined. It’s time to begin putting some form into them.

Step 2c.

Step 2d.

Step 2e.

Step 2f.

Step 2g.

Step 2h.

Round up the underside of the bird (Step 2c). You can use a file initially, but switch to a scraper as soon as you can. In fact this whole part can now be done with a scraper, the large round-ended scalpel blade being ideal as it has varying curvature with part of the blade virtually flat, allowing you to use different parts of the edge according to requirements. Lower the talon area first, but don’t begin to give the talons any definition at this stage; leave them as a solid shape. The important areas to concentrate on are the saddle between the main body and the head, the changing gradient running from the body down to the tail feathers, the rounded belly and the gentle dip between the back of the body and the front wing. All these actions can be accomplished with the same tool. Check the profile from all angles while you are doing this, to make sure that the forms are developing in balance with each other. Take a pointed scraper and put an undercut on the front wing to visually separate it from the back wing (Steps 2d–h).

Step 2i.

Step 2j.

With the form defined it’s time to start adding details. You’ll need to mark out where they are, so use your dividers to take measurements from your original design sheet and transfer them lightly onto the carving (Step 2i): the eye, the beak, the layers to the feathers on the front and back wings. Sketch the details in with a scriber and if necessary rub a little talc in to make them more visible (Step 2j). It’s not necessary to add all the details of the feathers. When carving wings (or any form) it’s useful to break them down into simpler planes and forms before adding any details.

Step 2k.

Step 2l.

Step 2m.

On the wing, take a flat chisel and create a shallow lower level between the line in the middle and the edge of the wing (Step 2k). Create two layers on the back wing in the same way. Also create a shallow ridge on the forward edge of the upper wing where the bones are below the surface (Steps 2l, 2m).

Step 2n.

Step 2o.

Step 2p.

Step 2q.

Step 2r.

Make the eye by deepening the line around it with a pointed scraper (Step 2n). Shape the brow ridge with an angled flat scraper. Returning to the eye, round all the edges of the eyeball and its socket with the tip of a pointed scraper (Step 2o). Extend the socket back along the head with a round-tipped scraper (Step 2p). Define the shape of the beak with a flat scraper by slightly lowering the beak area, leaving a slight ridge where it joins the head (Step 2q). The line separating the two halves can be put in with any sharp-tipped tool, scriber, pointed scraper or, as here, an engraver (Step 2r).

Step 2s.

Step 2t.

Step 2u.

Use a scriber to sketch in the feathers (Step 2s). The feathers are made with a flat chisel scraper, used more like an actual chisel. Hold the blade at a slight angle so that each feather is at a slight angle, appearing to overlap each other (Step 2t). On the front wing, the feathers will overlap each other from wing tip to the body; on the inner level (covert feathers) fade the feathers out by making them shallower as they approach the leading edge of the wing (patagium) (Step 2u). On the back wing, it’s the other way around. Remove the excess wax from behind the primary and secondary feathers, then separate the tips of the feathers with a chisel tip scraper, used once again in chisel fashion.

Step 2v.

Repeat the process with the back wing, remembering that the feathers will overlap in the opposite direction (Step 2v).

Step 2w.

Step 2x.

Step 2y.

Step 2z.

Step 2aa.

Shape the rear of the body so that it runs into the underside of the tail feathers (Steps 2w, 2x, 2y). Layer the feathers on the tail in the same way as before; the uppermost feather is in the centre of the tail. Shape the talons with the pointed scraper, which can also be used to put a scaly texture on them (Steps 2z, 2aa).

Step 2bb.

Step 2cc.

Step 2dd.

With most of the significant carving work done, you can thin the wax down from its starting thickness. Make some guidelines and remove the excess by sawing or filing (Steps 2bb, 2cc). Hollow the piece out as it will still have a lot of volume, making it heavy when cast and not feasible as either a brooch or a pendant (Step 2dd). Use gauges to check the thickness; you should be able to get the weight down to 1.2g in wax. You may wish to put a finer finish on the inside.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3: Finishing Touches

Texture the feathers and body. Long, light strokes with a small round-tipped scraper will create a good, light, feathery texture for the main body (Step 3a). Texture the wing feathers with the pointed scraper by repeatedly putting the point to the inner edge of each feather and scraping lightly at an angle to the outer edge (Step 3b). Once again, the tool marks define the final surface and there is no need for emery or wire wool. Step 3c shows the finished piece.

‘Crane’ by Danila Tarcinale.

With this project the talons were kept close to the body, making it easy to include them in the carving. For the carving of a crane (see above), the legs were made separately from wire and added after casting.

CHAPTER 8

Settings

Jewellery frequently features gemstones. This chapter will examine how to accommodate stones in a carving.

For the most part, the best way to make settings is directly into metal. Settings made from milled sheet and wire are always superior to settings made from cast metal, which is why this is the preferred method. Claws in particular are always better added to a cast piece. However, settings will often need to be incorporated into carved waxes.

‘Dorian’ ring by Danila Tarcinale.

This can be done by making a metal setting, then either sculpting the wax and fitting the setting to it, or building wax around the setting, or even heating the setting up and pushing it into the wax. The last of these is quite an unpredictable method, though not without use. The metal setting is usually removed from the wax, which is then cast and the setting soldered to the casting. It can be cast in place but not all casters like doing this.

The setting can also be carved into the wax, and there are times when this is the best way to proceed. Stand-alone settings are rarely created in wax in the UK, but this seems more common in other parts of the world. None of the exercises in this chapter are finished objects as such; they have been designed purely with the aim of helping you gain some proficiency in preparing wax to accept stones and helping you think about the process of adding stones to your own designs.

Not every setting permutation is covered in this chapter, but practising these exercises will give insight in how to think about accommodating gemstones into your carvings and provide a basis for you to develop techniques of your own.

Again, in this chapter we have tried to show all possible variants of tools to use.

EXERCISE 1

Rub-over Setting for an Oval Faceted Stone

For this exercise we’ll be using a 12 × 16mm oval faceted stone. However, any large oval stone will suffice – the important thing is to practise creating a setting in wax. For the purpose of the exercise, the setting will be straight-sided. This setting is being made flat on the underneath; however, if it were being prepared for incorporation into a ring, more depth would be required to allow the bottom of the setting to be curved to fit the finger. It’s worth spending the time beforehand to prepare a drawing that incorporates all appropriate measurements. Give yourself a good margin for error; it’s always easier and neater to remove a little wax than to add it on to an otherwise finished piece.

Tools

• Piercing saw with spiral and/or skip-a-tooth saw-blades

• Dividers

• Scriber

• Vernier gauge

• Wax file

• Coarse needle files, oval and flat

• Drill

• Scraping tools for concave surfaces (any or all of the following: round-ended scalpel blades, Wolf tool nos.5 or 17, bullstick scorper, round burr in a pin vice or hand chuck)

Step 1.

Step 1

The stone in the exercise is 12 × 16mm. You can use whatever you have available; just adjust the dimensions accordingly. Using the piercing saw and wax file, prepare a block of wax large enough to accommodate your stone and smooth all surfaces. If this is your first time at this exercise, leave yourself a wide margin for the walls of the setting. You can refine this later. As you progress and become more adept, you may wish to use a narrower starting margin.

At this stage 2.5mm should be enough. For the stone in this example that means 17mm (12 + 2.5 + 2.5) by 21mm (16 + 2.5 + 2.5). The stone is 7.5mm deep, so remember to allow enough depth too.

Step 2

As you will have done in previous exercises, mark all the centre lines for all axes with the dividers. This is particularly valuable for shapes like an oval where it may be difficult to locate the exact centres of the sides or top/bottom of the setting. As you will see in this project, marks have been left on the wax to facilitate just that at a later date.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Mark the shape of the stone onto the wax. There are several ways to do this. You can use guidelines on the wax and sketch the shape freehand using a scriber. You can stick the stone to the wax with double-sided tape or glue it on (obviously not a stone with a porous surface or one that may be damaged by the glue) then draw around the stone or prick around it with a scriber (Steps 2a, 2b). Alternatively you can make a template, stick that on and scribe around it, useful to make for regular stone sizes that you may be frequently using. There are commercially available templates for just this purpose.

Step 3.

Step 3

Using the wax file, shape your starting block to the shape of your stone, leaving the margin for the walls of the setting discussed above. If you wanted to make a tapered setting, it’s at this stage that you would alter the dimensions on the underneath of the setting to create a taper.

Step 4a.

Step 4b.

Step 4

Drill out the centre, using either a drill bit in a hand chuck, a pendant motor/micro-motor, or a pedestal drill (Step 4a). Now remove the wax at the centre, leaving enough wax inside the line describing the circumference of the stone to create a seat for the stone (Step 4b). If the setting is large enough, as this one is, the unwanted wax at the centre of the setting can be removed with a saw. Alternatively it may be removed with a burr in a micro-motor or pendant motor. Smooth the inner walls with an oval or half-round needle file.

There are several tools that can be used to create the seat for the stone. Any of the scraping tools listed at the beginning of this exercise may be used. The bullstick scorper can be used in exactly the same way as it would be on a metal setting, although with a level of caution that reflects the difference in hardness between wax and metal. If you are feeling particularly confident, a burr can be used in a motor, but it’s still recommended to switch to a scraping tool as you approach the line that describes the circumference of the stone.

Step 4c.

As you reach the line keep testing the stone against the setting, just as a setter would, to ensure a good fit. When the stone sits nicely against the cavity created, you can begin to let it in, as it will need to sit slightly below the surface. Use a scraping tool to remove wax from the curved surface below the rim of the setting without touching the top edge until the stone is seated nicely, without any rocking and with the girdle just below the setting edge (Step 4c).

Step 4d.

Step 4e.

If your setting is too tall, now is the time to shorten it. Refine the setting by thinning the walls and getting a smooth finish on all surfaces (Steps 4d, 4e).

Shrinkage: you can either loosen the setting slightly to accommodate shrinkage, or you can leave the setting as it is and adjust it with scorpers or other setting tools after casting.

Step 4f.

Step 4g.

While this is a fairly simple setting, it can be a good starting point for a more elaborate one. This one was later given a make-over with details from Gothic windows (Steps 4f, 4g).

EXERCISE 2

Claw Cup Setting

In this exercise we’ll be making a simple stand-alone six-prong cup setting for a faceted 6mm gemstone. Any size stone may be used for this exercise, but for the first time use one around the size mentioned above.

This piece starts with a turned piece of wax. This can be made by turning a piece of wax on a lathe or by careful filing by hand. You can also use a pendant motor or micro-motor as a rudimentary lathe. As the majority of readers will not have access to a lathe, that’s the route we will take here.

Tools

• Piercing saw

• Dividers

• Vernier gauge

• Wax file

• Coarse needle files, oval, round, square and flat

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1

Before it can be turned, the wax has to be held in the jaw of the pendant motor or micro-motor. To do this, first take an old burr – any shape will do as long as the head is reasonably large. Heat the end of the burr until it is red hot and allow it to cool naturally. It should now be fairly soft and you can file or grind it flat on both sides, so you have a flat disc on the end of the shaft (Step 1a). File a piece of wax into a rough cylinder and fix the modified burr into the end of the cylinder by heating it up, and while holding the hot tool in a pair of tweezers insert it into the wax. Hold it in place until the wax has hardened again (Step 1b).

Step 1c.

Put on safety goggles and holding the motor with the wax in one hand, take a scraping tool in the other and brace both hands firmly against the bench peg at 90 degrees to each other. Begin to shave tiny amounts off the wax rod to get a perfect cylinder (Step 1c). It’s important that both hands are very firmly braced against the peg for this to work properly, otherwise you will get a lot of juddering and a far-from-perfect surface. A reasonably slow motor speed works best.

Step 1d.

When the cylinder is true, refine the surface with a file (Step 1d). You can smooth further with emery paper or wire wool, but as you will be working into the cylinder this is not strictly necessary.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2

Now it’s time to create the seat for the stone. Find the centre point of the end of the cylinder with a small drill bit; you can hold this in your fingers. Then take a 6mm round burr and press it into the end of the rotating cylinder until it’s half its depth into the wax (Steps 2a, 2b). Check the fit of the stone to make sure it sits marginally below the rim of the setting. If you’ve gone too deep, you can easily file a little of the top away.

Widening settings

If you’re using stones that are larger than available burrs, wider settings can be made by using round-ended scraping tools to widen the setting.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3

Mark the depth you require on the side of the cylinder with dividers. Begin to remove the excess wax by either holding a scraping tool up to the rotating cylinder or by simply filing the excess away until you have the depth you need and the shape you want (Steps 3a–c). Start by creating a straight-sided setting to get the depth and file or turn the cup shape for this setting.

Step 3d.

Finally part off the setting using either a piercing saw with a regular blade reversed or a scorper with a narrow tip (Step 3d).

Step 3e.

Step 3f.

Step 3g.

Step 3h.

Once the setting is parted off, it can form the beginning of something more complex and creative. This method was used to create the six- and eight-claw settings pictured (Steps 3e–h). The basic shapes were turned in the manner above and details filed and carved into the basic settings that resulted.

You can also use this method to create short lengths of small diameter wax tube.

EXERCISE 3

Corner Claw Trillion Setting

For this exercise we will be making a stand-alone setting for a trillion stone (a triangular stone with rounded edges). This is a 8mm trillion with a depth of 5mm. This setting could be used on its own or incorporated into a more complex design.

Tools

• Scriber

• Round-ended scraping tool and/or bullstick scorper

• Pointed scraping tool and/or spitzstick scorper

• Dividers

• Wax file

• Coarse needle files

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Step 1c.

Step 1d.

Step 1

Glue or tape the stone table down onto the block of wax and scribe around it (Step 1a). Drill a hole in the centre of the setting and begin to excavate the wax. Use the spitzstick or the pointed scraper to gouge lines from the points of the setting to the hole in the centre (Step 1b), then use the bullstick or the round scraper to remove the wax between the lines created and make the seat for the stone (Step 1c). Don’t try to remove too much wax at once, it should be a gradual process, slowly deepening the seat and fitting the stone to the setting (Step 1d).

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2d.

Step 2

Once the stone has been adequately seated, use the dividers to mark the outer edge of the setting (Step 2a) and cut it out from the block using a piercing saw with a skip-a-tooth or an ordinary saw-blade; a spiral is a little too coarse for this. File the setting if necessary (Step 2b). Use the dividers again to mark a border on the underneath of the setting (Step 2c), and file the excess wax away to create a tapered setting (Step 2d).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3

Use the dividers to mark the corners claws (Step 3a) and file the setting with a coarse square needle file, until the claws are defined and the walls of the setting are not visible from the front (Steps 3b, 3c).

EXERCISE 4

Cabochon Setting

This exercise illustrates how to prepare a setting for a cabochon stone. In this instance we used a carved citrine. The techniques are the same for a cabochon of any shape. The most important thing is to get an even depth and a good fit for the stone. After creating the setting for the stone, you can sketch directly onto the wax and quickly make up a pendant design. You don’t have to do that, but it’s well worth spending some time trying out a few different shapes in a block of wax before you incorporate it into a design.

Step 1

Cut a block appropriate to your design with a piercing saw and smooth the surface with the wax file followed by a flat file. In this project we have used orange wax, which can attain a remarkable smooth finish with careful filing. If necessary smooth the surface further with emery paper.

Use the dividers to create guidelines to assist in the positioning of the stone and put a small piece of double-sided tape over the area where the stone is to be set (Step 1a). Use the scriber of your choice to prick through the tape around the stone, keeping as close to the stone as possible without moving it (Step 1b).

Step 1a.

Step 1b.

Tools

For filing:

• Wax file

• Flat file

For marking out:

• Dividers

• Scriber

• Double-sided tape

Carving lines, any of the following:

• Spitzstick scorper

• Medium chisel scalpel blade

• Pointy scalpel blade

• Arrowhead dental wax carving tool

• Wolf tool nos. 3 or 7

Hollowing out setting, any of the following:

• Medium chisel scalpel blade

• Large chisel scalpel blade

• Wolf tool no. 10

Step 2

Outline the shape of the setting by carving along the dots left by the scriber. This can be done with a spitzstick scorper or engraving tool in the same fashion as you would engrave a line. Alternatively any pointed carving tool listed above for carving the lines will work. Create a shallow groove to begin with and keep the tool angled so that the edge of the setting remains sharp (Steps 2a–c).

Step 3

Begin lowering the bottom of the setting using any of the tools listed above for hollowing out. Work from the centre to the edge, as this will help to retain a crisp edge to the setting (Steps 3a, 3b). Check the fit of the stone and, if the setting is too small, scrape small amounts from the walls until a good fit is achieved. This can be done by putting the medium chisel blade with its tip resting against the bottom of the setting and using the back edge to carefully scrape tiny amounts of wax from the walls. The wolf tool no. 10 is also excellent for this (Step 3c). Remember that the setting will shrink a bit when cast, so decide if you’d like to compensate for that now or work on the setting after casting. If you intend to work on the setting later, remember to leave enough wall thickness.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3d.

Step 3e.

If greater depth is required, continue to remove wax from the bottom of the setting; again the no. 10 works very well at this as one edge is rounded, meaning that you won’t accidentally remove material from the wall and make the setting too large (Steps 3d, 3e). If you don’t have one, then prepare a second medium chisel X-Acto blade with a back edge that has been sandpapered to a smooth, rounded edge.

To check you have an even depth, mark the side of your chosen tool with a marker pen and compare it to edge all the way around the setting. Finally, if the setting is open-backed, drill a hole and pierce it out with a piercing saw using either a skip-a-tooth saw-blade or an ordinary saw-blade. A spiral saw-blade is too coarse at his point. If the setting is to be closed back, smooth the inside of the setting with either a flat chisel scalpel blade or the no. 10.

Now that your stone fits and the setting is the right depth, you can begin to shape the wax around it to leave a setting edge that can be pushed onto the stone once the piece is cast. A good thickness to leave to the wall at this stage is 0.8mm. This will cast well and can easily be thinned a small amount in metal if necessary. Thinner walls can be cast, but this thickness will guarantee a good cast, especially if the piece is to be a master and have a mould made.

EXERCISE 5

Incorporating a Setting into a Ring

When incorporating a setting into a ring, it is vitally important to leave enough space depth in the head of the ring to accommodate the stone. In this exercise we will use a pear-shaped stone 7 × 10 × 4.7mm and create a rub-over setting.

There are two factors that should be taken into account when beginning a carving of a ring that includes stones: finger size and the dimensions of the stone. Always size the ring first.

Step 1

Cut a length of U-shaped wax tube and enlarge the hole to the correct finger size. Be sure to leave enough length to accommodate the stone and the walls of the setting. Filing excess away is easier than adding more wax on.

As in the previous setting for the cabochon, we will leave a 0.8mm setting wall. Leave extra wax at the tip of the setting as this will allow a nice sharp point to the setting when it is eventually set. In this exercise we’ve allowed about 2mm, giving an overall length of around 13mm.

Step 1.

Tools

• Scriber

• Dividers

• Ring-sizer

• Wax file

• Round-ended scraping tool and/or bullstick scorper

• Pointed scraping tool and/or spitzstick scorper

From the centre of the ring use the dividers to mark the depth of the setting. In this case we’ve allowed 5.2mm: the depth of the stone, 4.7mm, plus 0.5mm safety margin. If the stone were to have a particularly deep upper pavilion, then a smaller safety margin could be used, but that would depend on practice and experience.

When the flat upper surface of the wax has been adjusted to the correct depth, find and mark the centre axes with the dividers. Use the lines to position the stone with the table facet flat to the surface and fix it in position with double-sided tape or glue as we have done in previous exercises. Draw around the stone with a scriber and remove the stone.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2

Drill a hole in the centre of the area to be hollowed out and begin to remove the wax with either a round-ended scraper or the bullstick scorper (Step 2a). Create a sharp V under the pointed end of the stone with either a pointed scraper or the spitzstick scorper (Step 2b). Continue to remove wax a bit at a time until the stone fits neatly into the setting (Step 2c).

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3c.

Step 3

In the final stage, shape the ring with the wax file and progressively finer files and/or scraping tools (Step 3a). Smooth the surface of the ring or add details as desired. We’ve left this one quite plain, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t add textures, patterns or other details (Steps 3b, 3c).

EXERCISE 6

Pearl Cap

Sheet wax is very useful for forming around unusual shapes. A little warming makes it very pliable and it can be easily moulded around differently shaped stones, beads and pearls. The difficulty lies in getting it off while still retaining the form created, as well as taking shrinkage into account. For this exercise we will be using a teardrop-shaped pearl. If you don’t have one, a bead will function just as well for the purpose of learning the technique. The sheet thickness used here is 1mm.

Tools

• Cling-film (saran wrap or plastic wrap in other parts of the world)

• Scalpel

• Burnisher

• Source of mild heat

Step 1.

Step 1

Cut a piece of sheet wax with enough length to wrap around the pearl (or bead). Cover the pearl in cling-film. This will stop the wax sticking to the pearl and make removal easier. Also, three layers will generally take care of the shrinkage when casting. A long ‘tail’ of cling-film makes the pearl easier to hold.

Step 2a.

Step 2b.

Step 2c.

Step 2d.

Step 2

Warm the wax. A cup of warm water works well for this, although some people prefer to use a hair dryer. Wrap the wax around the pearl and trim the excess away (Steps 2a, 2b). Heat the burnisher in a soft flame (either from a torch or a spirit lamp) and seal the joins in the wax. If the wax is uneven, it can be smoothed out with the burnisher. Dip it in the warm water to stop it sticking to the wax. Trim the edge of the cap with the scalpel (Steps 2c, 2d). The cling-film has an extra benefit, protecting the pearl from any potential damage from the scalpel.

Step 3a.

Step 3b.

Step 3

Undo the cling-film and peel it back, pulling the wax cap off the pearl (Step 3a). The cling-film should pull out of the cap very easily, with no distortion. If you feel unsure, you can place the item in the fridge to harden the wax before pulling it away from the pearl (Step 3b).

This technique works just as well on all irregular shapes, although greater care will need to be taken to fit the cling-film tightly to the surface.

CHAPTER 9

Textures

The nature of wax lends itself well to texture and surface detail. There is a vast array of textures that can be created with various tools. You will have already noticed some, created by the tool marks made in the wax during previous projects.

This chapter will feature different examples of textures – an attempt to convey just some of the myriad possibilities that working with wax affords. It is not intended as a comprehensive guide, more like inspiration and encouragement to experiment.

Bronze hare by Danila Tarcinale.

Textures and surface detail can be random or considered, abstract or representative, or any combination of these. Examples of considered or representative textures are feathers, fur, bark, patterns and such like. We’ll begin with random/abstract.

Offcuts of wax are great for playing around. The wood texture on page 110 was made with one of the offcuts from the Kingfisher project in Chapter 7.

A REALLY RANDOM RING

In order to demonstrate some of these endless possibilities, we’ll start with this previously carved ring. It’s not an essential starting point; any piece of scrap wax can be used to experiment on. Experimentation is the key here. Displaying every possible textural variant is impossible, but hopefully these examples will prove inspiring.

1. Needle rasps. The coarse effect of the teeth on a needle rasp produces a very satisfying rough surface that would be difficult to create in metal. Change direction, overlap and vary the angle of file strokes to explore the effect: texture and form created simultaneously.

2. Scrapers. Cross-hatch scraping with the angled tip of a scalpel blade. A simple technique to produce a rough texture, it can be as random as you like using a variety of different scrapers and varying pressure for different effects. The one here has a leathery look.

3. Burrs. When using burrs remember to use a light touch to stop the wax melting onto the burr. Here, a small round burr has been run lightly over the surface to create a complex wiggly surface, somewhat reminiscent of some coral types.

Another texture has been made by repeatedly touching a round burr to the carving to excavate areas and create a corroded look. Some areas have been left untouched to show the original curves of the initial form: different shaped and sized burrs for different effects.

4. Wax pen. Collect some molten wax on the tip of the wax pen from a piece of scrap wax.

Allow the molten wax to run down to the tip into a little blob. Push the tip into the carving. The tip should actually go into the carving to ensure that the bead has firmly attached and the two pieces of wax have fused. If it’s only deposited on the surface then there’s a good chance it will become dislodged. Try putting one bead onto another. Getting a regular size of bead will take time and practice. This is certainly not a good alternative to granulation for a beginner.

While you’re collecting wax for the beads you’ll notice that the scrap you’ve been collecting from has developed an interesting texture of its own. Try utilizing this too.

Any of the above techniques can be further modified by flaming or rubbing with wire wool to soften the effects.

WOOD TEXTURE

This is a good example of a representative texture that is a blend of random and considered.

A natural texture like wood can be easily achieved in a number of ways and there are numerous types of bark effects to try out. Spend some time studying bark and come up with some of your own. In the meantime here are some simple ones to try out: one is a rough bark texture, the other softer.

First file roughly into a branch shape. Don’t worry about removing the file marks before adding the bark texture. The interference of the file marks with the action of the scraping tool can help randomize the barking effect, making it appear more natural. Natural forms can appear a little stilted if you are too studied in your approach. Sometimes it’s good to have a more relaxed attitude.

For smooth bark finishes take a round-tipped scraper and scrape along the length of the branch or twig with a mixture of short and long strokes. The strokes should all be roughly in the same direction but can partially overlap, especially at forks in the branch. Use smaller or larger scraping tools according to scale.

For rough bark textures there are two methods, scraper or burr. For the scraper method, use a flat- or chisel-tip scraper held at an angle to scrape sharp grooves into the wax. The technique here is identical to the smooth bark technique but with an angled edge tool.

For the burr technique, you will need access to a micro-motor or pendant motor. Use a bearing cutting burr (either 70- or 90-degree). Texture the wax using a mixture of long and short strokes. Different sized burrs can be used to vary the effects. Remember, light strokes with the burr will reduce friction and stop the wax heating up and sticking to the burr.

Get a broken branch effect with the crevice tool scalpel tip. Dig into the end of the branch or twig to create a shallow circle slightly smaller than the diameter of the branch, flick out and scrape away a few pieces from the side to simulate a chipped, flaking or broken branch. The inside of the circle can be textured with a little cross-hatching to complete the effect.

HAIR AND FUR

Hair and fur are representative textures you may wish to try. They can be very easy and simple or quite studied and controlled. As a texture on an unrelated form you have a lot more freedom than if you are sculpting an animal or the hair on a human head. For the latter two you will have to consider such things as length, volume, texture and direction. It pays to study examples by sculptors before committing scalpel to wax. Animal fur has definite directions on different parts of the body.

These test pieces are all 20 × 15mm.

A simple technique for hair/fur is to use an angled scraper to cover the surface with a series of tiny grooves. The ridges between the grooves will form the hairs, and the length of the stroke will determine longer or shorter hair strands.

More heavily textured hair will need a little more work. Human hair can be very varied. Have a look at the work of sculptors to see different approaches:

Antonio Canova and Michelangelo are both masters of hair and well worth studying. Sculpt each lock before adding hair texture. For soft hair use a small round-tipped scraper; for a sharper, more defined look use a scriber or angled scraper. Follow the movement and contours of each individual lock.

The patterns of various animals present more of a challenge. Without colour, the patterns have to be suggested by form alone. The darker areas of the pattern can be defined by being slightly recessed. The slight shadow effect also helps to differentiate light and dark areas of fur. The whole can then be lightly textured as in the first hair example. Use short, light strokes as this type of fur is usually quite short. If you are doing this on a carving of an animal as opposed to using it as an interesting texture on some item of jewellery, be sure to spend some time researching the direction of the fur on the actual creature. Thanks to internet image searches, this kind of research has never been easier.

SCALES

Fish skin, snakeskin, dragon scales, feathers and such like are a far more considered form of surface decoration. As with fur they may simply be decorative or part of a representative carving. The kingfisher gave you the opportunity to try feathers. Scales are not so different – it’s another exercise in shallow layering. As always, it’s worth spending some time researching your subject matter before attempting to reproduce it. Sketch it on paper before attempting on wax. Here’s a simple fish scale to get you started. The test piece is 20 × 15mm.

Begin by marking out your pattern on the wax. In this instance dividers are being used. On a more complicated three-dimensional form, sketch the pattern over the surface with a marker pen. You can ‘rub out’ mistakes with a bit of fine wire wool, then make it more permanent by going over with a scriber.

Step the layers of scale with a flat-tipped scraper, so that each successive layer angles back to the previous one.

Using a chisel-tip scraper or an engraver, put a shallow groove on the dividing line between each scale. At this point they should bear a resemblance to slate roof tiles. Using a chisel tip cut a V-shaped notch into the raised edge of each scale at the start of each groove and then carefully scrape a curve into the edge of the scale.

For the second half of this exercise, the scales have been overlapped, with the adjacent scale to the right on each row. When carving in this way, angle the scale down to the left, just as you did toward the layer above before beginning to round the bottom edge of the scale.

You can soften off the scales with wire wool, or leave them in order to preserve the sharpness of the carving. Repeat the exercise a few times, each time using slightly smaller scales. See how small you can get.

Make the scales slightly narrower and more pointed and you have dragon scales.

When you’ve had a bit of practice, sketch a scale pattern onto the fish exercise from Chapter 6 and have a go at putting a scale pattern on it.

FINGERPRINTS

Can you press your fingertips, or any other items, into wax to create an impression? There are limited possibilities for this. Obviously some things will stick to the wax, others won’t. As regards fingerprints, this is not candle wax – the melting point is much higher and there is a serious risk of injury. If you want to put a fingerprint onto an item, it’s much safer to put a layer of low melting point wax onto it, then heat this up and press the finger into it. It might take a couple of goes to get a good impression. In this example pink wax has been applied to an asymmetrical signet ring.

Obviously in this chapter we have only scratched the surface in term of possibility. There’s a whole range of tools to play with and a whole world of texture to invent or copy from the world around you. Experiment! How would you replicate the look of stone? How would you represent water or air? The massed leaves on a miniature carving of a tree? Crocodile skin? Over the years many artists and sculptors have produced endless pieces of work representing everything; Netsuke and Ojime are worth exploring as well as wood and stone carvers. Books and the internet are useful reference tools, but nothing compares to visiting a museum to see these things in the flesh. Scrutinize them, sketch them, imagine carving them.

CHAPTER 10

After the Cast

The focus of this book is carving, and so the casting process itself will not be discussed beyond what has already been covered. For best results take your carvings to a professional caster (see Further Information for a list of casters).

‘Baroque Memento Mori’ by Russell Lownsbrough.

CLEANING YOUR CASTINGS

Removing the sprue

The first step is to remove the sprue. Usually the caster will have removed most of it, but there may still be some left as they don’t like to cut too close for fear of marking the cast item. The remainder will have to be sawn off. Use a regular piercing saw frame and saw slightly away from the casting. If you cut too close you may run the risk of accidentally sawing into the piece and have to fix it. Now file the last remnant of the sprue away.

Removing the sprue.

Cleaning the surface

The surface of the casting will need to be cleaned up to get the best possible surface. Some parts may be filed with your regular files and papered with emery sticks, however carved pieces of jewellery are often quite complex forms, and as such they frequently present problems when being cleaned up. It can be quite a painful chore to clean tiny, difficult-to-reach details and surfaces on your castings. Over the years tools have evolved to assist in this. In the past the only choices were fibreglass brushes, bits of emery wrapped around needle files and toothpicks; it was slow and laborious.

Papering tools

Emery paper or ‘Wet and dry’ paper comes in a variety of grades. The most useful grades for our purposes range from P400 to P1000: the higher the number, the finer the abrasive. Coarser and finer grades are available, but are not generally necessary. Use by hand on sticks or with a pendant/micro-motor on split pins or sanding rolls.

Sticks

Probably the most useful profiles for emery sticks are round and triangular. Emery sticks are lengths of wooden dowel with emery paper wrapped around. Round sticks are easily made: just tightly wrap a sheet of emery around a piece of round dowel and secure with masking tape at each end. Triangular shapes are a little harder to make. Place the stick in line with the edge of a sheet of emery and lightly run a scriber along the edge of the stick. Fold the emery around the stick; the scribed line should give a nice sharp crease. Scribe another line and fold over the stick again; repeat until the whole sheet is wrapped around the stick. As the layers of emery become worn, simply tear off a strip.

Split pins and sanding rolls

Split pins come in two forms, tapered and cylinder. A small piece of emery is inserted into the slot and wraps around the tool as it rotates. Any grade of emery may be used and it’s worth preparing several pieces in advance.

Emery sticks, sanding roll and split pin.

Pre-wrapped sanding rolls come in a range of grades and are extremely useful for the inside of rings. As the outer layer becomes worn, a layer can be torn off to expose fresh paper below.

DIY wrapped sanding rolls are a little time-consuming, but you can make your own versions in any grade you like. Take an old burr, superglue one end of a long strip to it and roll it up. Glue the underside of the resulting cylinder together and use just like the pre-wrapped.

Rubberized abrasives

These are available in several formats: as blocks, which you can cut to shape; or as wheels, cones, cylinders and radial discs (or ‘spider wheels’ as some people like to call them), all mounted on shanks for use with pendant or micro-motors. Radial discs are especially good at getting into nooks and crannies. They come in various grades (from coarse to fine abrasives) that are almost like polishing.

Rubberized abrasives.

Eveflex rubber cylinders, wheels and pins

Each type has its own mandrel for use with a pendant or micro-motor:

• Blue/coarse

• Grey/medium

• Brown/fine

• Green/extra fine

Radial discs

These need a screw-top mandrel for use with a pendant or micro-motor:

• Yellow/coarse

• Red/medium

• Blue/fine

• Pink/superfine

• Green/finishing

Garryflex blocks

• Brown/fine

• Grey/medium

• Blue/coarse

• Wine/extra coarse

Ceramic abrasives

Ceramic abrasives are the new kids on the block and are fantastic for getting into small, hard-to-reach places. They are made of ceramic mixed with fibreglass; the abrasive is aluminium oxide.

Ceramic abrasive pens.

Ceramic abrasive rods.

Ceramic abrasive sticks.

Using a ceramic abrasive pen.

They come in three forms: a cylindrical rod, a rectangular stick (various widths), or small square rods that fit into a mechanical pencil. The cylindrical rods are the correct diameter for use in a pendant or micro-motor. The pencils are available in 0.5mm and 0.9mm. The material is hard-wearing and tougher than it looks. They can be shaped according to need with an oilstone; we wouldn’t recommend anything else, certainly not a file. Use them with or without lubricant, we’ve not noticed a significant difference either way.

They come in the following grits in different colours for easy identification:

• 120 – violet

• 220 – brown/grey

• 400 – orange

• 800 – blue

• 1500 – yellow

• 2000 – cream

• 3000 – pink

FINISHES

Once the surface of your cast item has been suitably prepared with the abrasives listed above, you can think about what type of finish it will have. As previously mentioned, carved pieces can have very complex surfaces. A high polish may not always be the best finish; the light reflecting from multiple highlights can obscure the detail or the form. Having spent possibly a considerable amount of time creating a highly detailed piece of jewellery, you will want to be able to fully appreciate it.

The range of finishes is vast. It’s really a question of experimenting until you find the one you consider most flattering for your piece or in a style that best suits you. The suggestions that follow should provide you with some good starting points.

Polishing brushes, mops and compounds.

Finishes are on a sliding scale ranging from ‘matt’ through ‘satin’ to ‘polished’, with potentially infinite gradations in between.

The most basic form of matt finish is the finish achieved with the abrasives in the preparation stage. However, this finish may not be totally even. To give a more even finish, scrub the piece with pumice and water using a soft toothbrush. For a slightly more satin variation, use washing-up liquid instead of water.

A good satin finish can be achieved with spider wheels. Try combining different grades on the same spindle. Your 0000 grade wire wool also gives a nice worn antique satin finish. Try using the two different techniques on the same piece to differentiate different materials, such as skin or cloth or hair. Eyes can be highlighted by burnishing, while the area around them (skin/fur/feathers) could have a matt or satin finish.

Polishing is best achieved with bristle brushes and a pendant or micro-motor. Grey medium hardness brushes tend to be the best, with the right balance of hardness to get into small detail but not wear it away. Even so, proceed carefully. It’s easy to over-polish and ruin your hard-crafted detail. A pendant motor is far better than a bench polishing motor as it gives more control and allows you to see the area being polished more easily. Don’t forget your protective eyewear when polishing.

Begin with Tripoli and proceed to Rouge or whatever equivalents you favour, cleaning thoroughly in between. Take the time between polishes to have a good look at your piece; sometimes a Tripoli-level polish is an adequate finish, with the right balance of shine and visible detail.

In whatever way you choose to finish your pieces, a high polish on the inside of a ring or the back of pendants, brooches and earrings will validate your choice, however alternative or experimental the rest of the piece is.

Oxidation

Oxidation is a process whereby metal is artificially darkened with the use of chemicals. It’s a common finish used in conjunction with carved items cast in silver. No doubt you’ve seen this effect may times, and it’s excellent for bringing definition to highly detailed pieces.

For silver, this process is very simple. You will need some oxidizing solution: Platinol or liver of sulphur, for example. Any good jewellery supplier will have at least one type. Platinol tends to give the most even predictable colour and is recommended for that reason. Liver of sulphur will need to be made into a solution before use. Whatever oxidizing solution you use, it should be carried out in a fume cabinet or a well-ventilated area, as the fumes are not good for you and have a sulphurous rotten-egg smell that is unpleasant for anyone who may be sharing a space with you.

There are two ways to use Platinol: diluted or direct from the bottle. In both cases the piece should be cleaned thoroughly before oxidizing to ensure an even effect.

Diluted: put some hot water in a jar with a lid; a 50/50 mix of boiling and cold is about right. Add a few drops of the Platinol until the solution is a dark whisky colour. Place your item in the solution with tongs, put the lid on to contain the fumes and leave for up to thirty seconds. You will usually get a good dark colour before that. Remove the piece with tongs and rinse. The oxide can remain in the closed jar until it has become colourless, when it can be disposed of. While it’s dark, it’s still active and can still be used. Immediately wash off any solution if it splashes on you.

Direct from the bottle: sometimes you may only want to oxidize a small area. To do this, small amounts of oxidizing solution can be painted directly onto the piece from the bottle. Cotton buds, toothpicks or paintbrushes can be dipped into the undiluted solution and painted directly onto the metal. Be aware that paintbrushes will not have a long lifespan as the solution attacks the bristles.

‘Life Goes On’ ring by Russell Lownsbrough.

Remove the oxide from raised areas to leave dark recessed areas by careful polishing or abrading. Don’t remove too much or you’ll have to start again. Fine wire wool is good for this task. With practice, graduated shading and a range of interesting finishes can be achieved with this technique. Seal the finished piece with Renaissance Wax; this seals the finish and also helps darken the oxidized finish. Oxide is initially a very dark grey, but becomes blacker with time.

This technique will work with rose gold too, because of the copper content. If you want the same effect with other precious metals, black ruthenium or black rhodium plating is recommended. It can be carefully rubbed away just like the silver oxide layer. Another alternative for gold is to heat the piece with a soft bushy flame until an even layer of natural oxide forms on the surface and then treat as above.

All oxidizing should take place before any setting.

The piece pictured above has been partially plated with rose and yellow gold before being oxidized. The casting was cleaned to the required finish, then the stones were set. The skull and some of the flowers were masked out with Lacomit, then it was plated with rose gold. Other flowers were masked and it was replated with yellow gold. Finally the masking was removed, and oxide was carefully painted onto the revealed silver areas and rubbed gently with fine wire wool to achieve the final finish.

Other finishes

Colour can be added to castings by other methods. Nano-ceramic plating has a vast range of colours. Patination is another option. This bird in a glass dome was painted with inks and then varnished; obviously protected in the dome there’s little chance of the colour wearing off.

‘Birdy’ by Danila Tarcinale.

MOULDS

You’ve carved your piece and want to make more, but obviously don’t want to re-carve the same piece over and over. You need a mould. Once you have one, repeating the piece is easy. A wax injector fills the mould with a low temperature wax and hundreds of copies can be made of your original carving, or master pattern as it is known in this process. Your caster will be able to provide this service. If you become a serious wax-carver, you might want to invest in the equipment to do this yourself and possibly buy a small wax injector too.

Before making a mould it is worthwhile adding any fittings, jump rings or findings that you think you might want to the master pattern. It’s quicker and easier to cut any unwanted fittings off a cast item than to solder them on. This will save time and money on a production run, as well as ensuring uniformity.

There are two types of moulds: RTV (room temperature vulcanizing) rubber, also known as cold moulds, and old-school vulcanized rubber moulds. Any item can have a cold mould made of it, so you can have a mould made of your wax without having it cast first, if you’re happy with the finish on it. It is a two-part liquid that is mixed and poured over the master, and the mould frame is placed in a vacuum chamber to remove the air bubbles from the liquid. When the liquid has solidified the mould is cut open, the master removed and wax injected into the resulting cavity.

Making a Cold Mould

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

Step 5.

For a vulcanized rubber mould your piece will have to be in metal, usually silver. The metal master is placed in a frame between sheets of vulcanizing rubber, the frame is placed in a heated press and the mould cooked for the appropriate time. After it has cooled down, the mould is cut open, the master removed and wax injected.

These days there are no distinct advantages to either type of mould as RTV has improved considerably over the years. The most important thing is to ensure that your piece, whether in wax or metal, has a good finish. A good polished surface doesn’t hurt, but ultimately every cast item will have to be properly finished. The surface of your casting is only as good as the investment plaster in the casting can. Release agents are available to assist the removal of the injected wax, but a fine dusting of talc or baby powder works well.

Making a Vulcanized Rubber Mould

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

Step 5.

Step 6.

Further Information

Suppliers

Bellore

www.rashbel.co.uk

Wax, wax-carving tools, jewellery tools. Amtech knife handles.

Cookson Precious Metals Ltd

www.cooksongold.com

Wax, wax-carving tools, jewellery tools. Eurotool knife handles.

Ceramic rod abrasives.

Euromounts and Findings LLP

www.eurofindings.com

Wax, wax-carving tools, jewellery tools.

H.S. Walsh and Sons Ltd

www.hswalsh.com

Wax, wax-carving tools, jewellery tools. Ceramic abrasive pens.

Moleroda

www.polishingjewellery.co.uk

www.moleroda.com

Ceramic abrasives.

Proops Brothers

www.proopsbrothers.com

Jewellery tools.

Sutton Tools

www.suttontools.co.uk

Jewellery tools.

wax carving

www.waxcarving.co.uk

Modified scalpel blades as used in this book.

International suppliers

eBay and Amazon

Excel, Wedo, X-Acto knife handles and blades. Jewellery tools.

Rio Grande

www.riogrande.com

Wax, wax-carving tools, jewellery tools.

Casters

A Wardle

http://www.awardle.co.uk/

All metals. Finishing service.

Birmingham.

AA Fine Castings

www.aafinecastings.co.uk

All metals. Finishing service.

London.

ABT Design Ltd

http://www.abtdesign.co.uk/

All precious metals.

Northfleet, Kent.

Aconia

http://aconia.co.uk/

All precious metals.

Birmingham.

Blackarts casting

www.blackartscasting.co.uk

All metals. Finishing service.

Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

DBC London

http://designbuildcast.co.uk/

All precious metals.

London.

DRP Castings

https://drpcastings.com/

All metals. Finishing service.

Gravesend, Kent.

GW Lunt

https://gwlunt.com/

Brass and bronze foundry.

Birmingham.

Hean Studio

http://heanstudio.com/

All precious metals.

Kingsland, Herefordshire.

Hockley Mint

https://www.hockleymint.co.uk/

All precious metals.

Finishing service.

Birmingham.

JewelCast

https://www.jewelcast.co.uk/

Platinum, palladium, 18ct gold.

Birmingham.

Jewellery Casting Scotland

https://www.jewellerycastingscotland.com/

All metals.

Argyll, Scotland.

Just Castings

www.justcastings.co.uk

All metals. Finishing service.

London.

Merrell

http://www.merrellcasting.co.uk/

Platinum, palladium, gold and silver. Fairtrade gold. Finishing service. Birmingham.

Morflin

http://www.morflin.co.uk/

Finishing service.

Birmingham.

Nexgen

http://www.nexgenprecisioncasting.co.uk/

Recycled silver. Finishing service.

Birmingham.

Q Branch

www.qbranchcasting.com

Gold and platinum.

Chichester, West Sussex.

Vipa

http://www.vipadesigns.co.uk/

vipa/index.asp

All metals. Also Fairtrade and recycled metals. Finishing service.

Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

West 1

www.west1castings.co.uk

All metals.

London.

Weston Beamor

www.westonbeamor.com

Silver, gold and platinum.

Birmingham.

Plating

Buzzforce

020 7404 2332

London

Cheyne and Close Ltd

www.silverpolishing.co.uk

London

CE Plating

http://www.ceplating.co.uk/

Birmingham

Elliot Fitzpatrick

https://www.elliot-fitzpatrick.com

London

Just Castings

www.justcastings.co.uk

London

Mellows Eaton Ltd

http://www.mellowseatonltd.com

Crawley, West Sussex

Pure Gold Plating

https://puregoldplating.co.uk/

Beverley, Yorkshire

The authors

Waxcarving

www.waxcarving.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/

wax carving

Instagram: wax carving_london

The authors’ trade website.

Information page with weight conversion tables, wax data and international ring conversion sizes. Wax carving blog.

The Travelling Jewellery Emporium

www.thetravellingjewelleryemporium.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/TheTravellingJewelleryEmporium/

Instagram: thetravellingjewelleryemporium

The authors’ jewellery retail website and Facebook page.

Assay offices UK

Birmingham Assay Office

https://theassayoffice.com/

Edinburgh Assay Office

https://www.edinburghassayoffice.co.uk/

London Assay Office

https://www.assayofficelondon.co.uk/

Sheffield Assay Office

https://www.assayoffice.co.uk/

Further reading

Lost Wax Casting by Fred R. Sias, Jr, Phd (2006).

Jewelry, Concepts and Technology by Oppi Untracht (1985)

Organizations/Other resources

Institute of Professional Goldsmiths

www.ipgoldsmiths.com

https://www.facebook.com/ipgoldsmiths/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ipgforum/

Instagram professional_goldsmiths

The Institute of Professional Goldsmiths (IPG) is an organization that promotes and supports craftspeople of the highest calibre, who produce only the finest workmanship.

Association for Contemporary Jewellery

www.acj.org.uk

Society supporting contemporary jewellery makers.

Benchpeg [digital magazine/newsletter]

https://benchpeg.com

https://www.facebook.com/benchpeg/

Supporting the British jewellery industry: jobs, news, internships, work, tools for sale, exhibitions, events, professional development.

Contemporary British Silversmiths

www.contemporarybritishsilversmiths.org

Society supporting British silversmiths.

The Crafts Council

www.craftscouncil.org.uk

Wax carving for jewellery Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/waxcarvingforjewellery/

Wax carving forum.

The Goldsmiths’ Centre

www.goldsmiths-centre.co.uk

National Association of Jewellers

www.naj.co.uk

Trade association.

Wax reference

Finger size conversion

Comparative weights

The authors

Russell Lownsbrough FIPG and Danila Tarcinale FIPG are master wax-carvers. They have worked together since they met in 1993. Both are graduates of the world-famous Central St Martin’s School of Art. Best known in the trade for figurative work, which they have provided for many world-famous jewellery houses and designers, their jewellery has also appeared in films, museums and music videos. It has won them a wide range of awards from the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council, the Royal Society of British Sculptors and the UK Jewellery Awards, amongst others. Both are Fellows of The Institute of Professional Goldsmiths.

Their own work has a wide range of inspirations: historical styles from prehistory to the Belle Epoque, nature, archaeology, mythology, anatomy and tattoos. They accept commissions and have their own ranges of work, which can be seen on their website: www.thetravellingjewelleryemporium.co.uk. Trade enquiries are directed to their trade website: www.wacarving.co.uk.

Russell:

‘I discovered wax in 1988 when I was at Central St Martin’s. The tuition was rudimentary, to say the least, but it allowed me to add whole dimensions to my work. Up to that point I had always worked in sheet and wire and I had often wondered how the figurative work by jewellers, such as Lalique, was produced. By the time I’d carved my first piece it was all very clear and a huge vista of possibility opened up. I discovered a technique that totally resonated with me, provided a living and has been a lifelong passion.’

Danila:

‘When I came to the UK in 1990 I needed a hobby so I enrolled in an adult education class in jewellery-making at Kensington and Chelsea college. Jewellery-making was a big umbrella for lots of different skills that I wanted to explore. I met Russell a couple of years later at Jess James, a jewellery boutique off Carnaby Street, while doing a work placement. He was specializing in wax carving and introduced me to it. I love form and detail, and wax carving seemed the ideal tool for me to express myself. It really changes the way you see objects as you constantly have to think how you would recreate them. Everything becomes more vivid and three-dimensional. So much passion and care goes into every piece of work, even the smallest one. It is my lifestyle.’

Russell and Danila:

‘We’ve had a lifetime’s worth of pleasure and satisfaction from wax carving, we hope you do too.’

Russell Lownsbrough and Danila Tarcinale. (Photos: Gaynor Perry)

Index

bench 13

cire perdue 8

cleaning castings 115

cutting slices 30

exercises

concave spiral 41–42

convex spiral 38–40

dome 36–37

pyramid 34–35

hollowing wax 45–50, 65

lost wax casting 8

modifying blades 17

moulds 120–122

oxidizing 119

preparing wax 32

project

blossom ring 79–82

bombe ring 62–64

flower and leaf 67–71

fish locket 74–77

kingfisher 83–89

letter 72–73

signet ring 60–61

wavy band ring 59

recycling wax 51

repairing wax 50–51

settings

cabochon rub-over 100–1

claw 95–97

corner claw 98–99

facet rub-over 92–94

pearl cap 104–5

rub-over in ring 102–3

shrinkage 11, 65

sizing a ring 56–58

sprue 8

sharpening blades 17

texture

fingerprint 113

fur/hair 111

scales 112

wood 110

transferring designs 10

tree 8

tools

abrasives 24, 116–7

burrs 22

craft knife 16

dental tools 18

dividers 15

dixieme gauge 15

DIY tools 19

engravers and scorpers 18

filing tools 20–21

finishing products 24, 118

matt reamer 19

pendant/micro motors 22–23

ring stick 15

sawing tools 20, 31

scalpel 17

scriber 14

spirit lamp 24, 51

three square scraper 18

vernier gauge 15

wax pens 23, 50

wax ring sizer 19

wolf tools 18

wax

carving wax 25–27

sheet wax 26, 104–5

wax finishing 43

wax wedge 46