W a x to M e t a l ~ a love story....

Have you been wonderíng, what is this wax that keeps being banterėd on about ~ ? What is wax carving, lost-wax casting, and how the hell does it transform into sílver, gold, and so much more ~ ?

When an original piece is carved and finished in wax (specialised for jewellery), it’s added to a wax ‘tree’. You may have seen the wax and bronze ‘trees’ I’ve shown in previous posts...

A cylindrical flask is fitted to the base around the tree, and then filled with liquid investment plaster.... The investment is left to dry/harden, then the base is removed and the flask is put into a kiln for up to 12hrs... 🔥  The wax is burnt-out (lost), leaving a cavity where the wax used to be....

Molten metal is then poured via vacuum or shot via centrifugal force into the cavity at high pressure, then allowed to coool.... The plaster is then submerged in water and broken up to reveal the metal ‘tree’ ~ a metal model of the original wax ~ ! Each piece is then clipped off the ‘tree’ and ready to be cleaned and polished....!

Wax carving and lost-wax casting are ancient traditional methods in jewellery, tool making, dentistry and sculpture, that reach back thousands of years 🖖👽

Come and learn how to carve wax, then clean up the casting of your own ring in solid silver :)) Classes are fun and personal, with 2-4ppl per session, running on Wednesday’s and Saturday’s at the Studio. More details available via the Workshops page.

If you’ve made it down here, thanks for eternally reading my concise~as~possible process explanation 👀  xx reach out if you have any questions or just wanna chat about fun stuff :)) Yeehaw ~ !