Precision wax carving (rings)

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The most common medium for creating jewelry models in three dimensions, carving wax (or "hard" wax) is just what it sounds like. Most techniques are subtractive, although an optional  heated wax pen can allow you to both sculpt and repair your models. While the wax comes in various degrees of hardness, they share the characteristic of being sturdy enough to allow for detailed and intricate carving, including  hollowing large or heavy designs to reduce cost. Wax Carving is most appropriate for precision designs and stone setting.

Carving wax tubes are available in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, and are used as a starting point for rings.  Carving wax sheets and blocks can be used to create pendants, earrings, and even bracelets. The variety of colors indicate varying degrees of both hardness and elasticity.

Your wax model can be used to create a single one-off piece, or a "master" from which a mold can be made to produce additional waxes for both limited editions and mass production.

 You will learn the foundation techniques of wax carving by creating a variety of rings in different widths and thicknesses, including delicate stack rings with texture and detail. You will advance to  piercing a design on a wider band using the PMA modified exacto blade, and practice sculpting a freeform design into your ring.

We offer a complete Precision Carving Wax Tool Kit with everything you need to get started, including enough wax materials to get you through our 3 introductory Precision Carving Wax Classes; A, B, and C. Add a few optional tools and you can create our in-studio experience at home.

Your completed wax design is transformed into any metal - bronze, silver, gold or even platinum - by a process known as "Lost Wax Casting".  We offer a full range of casting services, including checking your waxes, making molds of designs that you may want to reproduce in quantity, setting stones, and finishing.

We are offering a Zoom version of our most popular in-studio rings class. We will introduce all the basic techniques for making rings, including stack rings and  bands (wedding or otherwise). Over 2 Sundays, you will practice multiple bands from the simple tube, to serve as a wax model for casting into a finished ring or to create the foundation for more complex  designs.