Join me as I demonstrate the hand carving of a wavy stacking ring using a tube of Ferris jewellers wax and some traditional lost wax hand carving tools in real time!
This is a perfect tutorial for complete beginners, and those who are curious or completely new to wax carving and the lost wax method for jewellery making (hand carving and lost wax investment casting).
In this video I outline some of the necessary tools required to carve a stacking ring from a tube of jewellers wax (wax ring tube).
To give wax carving your best shot, at minimum you will need the following tools:
- Dividers (bow compass)
- wax ring tube (I’m using the Ferris brand)
- a few wax carvers
- a wax reaming mandrel
- a regular ring sizing stick
- a jewellers saw with a wax blade (spiral blade)
- emery paper (600 - 800 grit)
- a wax file (flat and half round)
- a flat sturdy surface to work on
It’s important to weigh your wax model on a mini balance and convert it to the estimated metal weight. To do this you’ll need to know the specific gravity of the metal you’ve chosen to cast in. This chart can be found online by searching “wax to metal specific gravity conversion lost wax casting”. The charts are all relatively similar.
After you have an estimated metal weight of your ring, you can choose to further refine your model or send your item off to be cast via the lost wax investment casting method in your metal of choice!
Reach out if you have any questions, and I hope you enjoyed watching this #waxcarving video!