Carving Wax

Today I mixed up a modified batch of Carving Wax, a la Martha Armstrong-Hand, via a recipe posted on the Enchanted Forum by JayneM. You can read all the recipe mixing details on my weblog.

This carving wax is great! It does not have any discernible shrinkage. It carves beautifully with my paring knife. It cuts easily with my X-Acto knife. The hole I drilled in it with my drill press was sharp and clean. I am going to say that it can be cut with a saw very easily, judging from how it cuts with a knife and can be drilled. It can probably be machined as well. It can be smoothed (sanded) with little effort. It is strong enough to be test strung with elastic.

Now I know why Martha Armstrong-Hand used this method to make her BJDs. She made the original sculpture with oil-clay over an armature.. Then she cut the oil-clay sculpt off the armature, at the joints, very much like many of the Japanese BJD makers do. She molded the oil-clay parts in plaster molds. Plaster has no discernible shrinkage. Then she cast the carving wax in those plaster molds, and finished them. The carving wax allowed her to take her dolls to a high finish, ready to make plaster production molds for porcelain doll casting. I am going to say that Martha probably learned this method of using carving wax when she worked as a doll designer at Mattel?

The only annoying thing about it so far, is that very thin shavings have a small amount of static charge, so some of them stick to my hands and the wax part when I am carving and shaving with my knife.

I have not tried to add to a part with more carving wax yet. I will continue my experiments and see what happens.

 

I don't think I'd want to brush away shavings that have a static charge? That might be like trying to brush away particles of styrofoam? It would make more of a mess than anything else.

I am carving this wax over a flat plate to catch the shavings. Since this carving wax has talc and paraffin in it, I must keep it isolated from the brown microcrystalline wax that I am using to model my doll. The static charge is a very minor annoyance. It in no way takes away from the other wonderful properties of this carving wax. I left out a couple of ingredients from the recipe that I modified, and it is quite possible that with those ingredients added, the static charge would not even exist. I don't know for sure! :confused:

I just finished sanding my test piece, in a sink of water, and even though I used a rather rough sanding pad, it came out much smoother than the cast surface. I would imagine that a glass-like surface could be attained with very fine sanding pads? This stuff is wonderful!

EDIT: I just dry sanded the piece with a much finer piece of sand paper, and it took out the scratches from the rough sanding pad.

 

Photos of carving wax test

This is the carving wax test piece I cast today in a plaster mold.
I cut it into three parts with an X-Acto razor knife.
I drilled a hole in the end of the large ball.
I cut the pouring cup off the end of the small ball.
I used a very small diameter piece of elastic to string these pieces.
This is some elastic I tried to use with my small wax BJD, but it cut through that wax.



These are the three pieces, unstrung. The piece I sanded is on the left.
I don't know if you can see the scratches from the rough sanding pad,
or the area that I sanded dry with the finer sandpaper? This wax is
easier to photograph than the brown wax.



This is another view of the pieces strung-up. If you look closely at the
middle piece, you can see the shrinkage test marks which are slightly raised.



I am very pleased with this carving wax, and excited about the possibilities
it offers for ball-jointed doll making.

 

Besides me, waif and glimmer, has anyone else tried Martha Armstrong-Hand's carving wax?

 

http://www.chavant.com/new_site/files/clay_facts.htm

That Y2Klay Industrial Design Clay looks like great stuff!

I have not actually tried to work with my carving wax as a modelling material, yet.

The doll maker who told me about Castilene (also from Chavant) said she
warmed it up, shaped it while it was warm, then it hardened when it cooled.
She said it could be reused. That is an important property for me.

One of the ways to keep wax warm when modelling with it, is to put it under
a heat lamp. I just haven't tried it yet, although I do have a heat lamp and an
aluminum oven liner that I could use to try it.

The static that I mentioned occuring when I was carving my wax was not that
big of a problem. It certainly was not at all like carving styrofoam, where just
about every particle has a static charge. With my carving wax, only a few thin
pieces had a static charge. Most of the shavings just fell onto my work surface
as you would expect. I mentioned it in order to make a thorough report. It is not
enough of a problem for me to stop using my carving wax recipe. In fact, I'm
getting ready to mix up another batch, the same size as the last batch.

 

I agree. Some people even use double boilers.

The heat from a heat lamp is controlled by the distance from the wax it is placed. Actually, a regular light bulb can be used to soften wax for modelling. In the setup I saw being used, the wax was in a number ten can with a couple of strips of wood laid on top, and the light bulb was in an aluminum hemisphere. It seemed to work just fine.

I am going to experiment with doing some simple modelling when I make my next batch of carving wax. The carving wax I make is a simple, inexpensive home-made version of the Industrial Design Carving Wax used by the big toy companies.

 

Candle Wax + Talc Carving Wax

I just finished making a batch of candle wax + talc carving wax.

28oz white pillar candle wax
28oz baby powder talc

This simple recipe is too brittle. It needs an additional softer wax added to make it tough. After it was completely cool, I carved on it, and all the shavings broke into bits, instead of carving off in long curling shavings. Thin edges cracked when put under tension. Also, it is much slicker than the first recipe I made. Under tension, there is not as much friction. Surfaces slide on one another much easier, causing kick.

I think white pillar candle wax can be substituted for paraffin in the original recipe. This batch will need to have some softer brown microcrystalline wax added to it, to make it useful as a doll carving wax.

One thing I do like about it, is the color. It came out a light gray color, with a very slight greenish tinge to it.

 

patl: How do you like working with the Chavant Y2-Klay, so far? Have you finished any dolls with it yet?

I also like the cardboard box and light bulb wax heater/softener. My carving wax is carveable; and can also be added to, using a wax pen type of tool, or a metal tool heated with a jeweler's alcohol lamp; as well as be finished as smooth as glass. Another property I find useful is that it can be melted and poured into a mold. Plus, it is strong enough for test tensioning a doll with elastic.

I now know of two books which use the carving wax as an intermediary material between the original soft modeling clay, and the final porcelain or resin cast:

Learning To Be A Doll Artist. Martha Armstrong-Hand. (1999).
Pop Sculpture. Tim Bruckner, et al. (2010).

 

The easiest way to understand carving wax is to get an overview of how Martha Arthstrong-Hand used it in her doll studio.

I am using a homemade carving wax recipe; a modified version of a recipe that was modified by waif, based on the recipe for studio carving wax in Martha's book, Learning To Be A Doll Artist (1999) [currently out-of-print].

Martha worked in the toy industry as a sculptor, and professional doll maker, for the likes of Hagen-Renaker, View Master, and Mattel. Carving wax is used in the toy industry as a design medium. In fact, it is also known as toy wax. Martha was introduced to carving wax when she worked at Hagen-Renaker in the 1950's and 1960's. She made her own carving wax in her studio so she would have control over the color and consistency of the carving wax.

Martha used oil-clay to model her original doll over a wire armature, supported by a modeling stand made of a modeling board and pipe fittings. Oil-clay is very soft, so it can be easily modeled. Carving wax is hard, but it can be melted and poured, carved, drilled, welded together, and sanded smooth. In fact, it can be finished glass-smooth. Also, carving wax can be reused. Just toss it back into the wax pot and remelt it.

Once Martha finished modeling her doll in oil-clay, she removed the oil-clay doll from the modeling stand (easy to do - due to the pipe fittings - just unscrew), then cut it apart at the limbs and head. This left a head, a torso, and four limbs (a total of six pieces).

Once the doll was cut into parts, she made plaster rough shell molds of each doll part. A plaster rough shell mold is very different from a plaster slip casting mold. Making a plaster rough shell mold does not require exact measuring of water and plaster. Instead, a technique known as the dry lake-bed method of mixing plaster is used. In the dry lake-bed method, plaster is sprinkled evenly into the water in the mixing bowl until it just breaks the surface, and looks all cracked like a dry lake-bed. Then it is mixed together and applied to the doll part which has a clay-build-up around it, on the parting line. In contrast, a plaster slip casting mold must be made very carefully, using precise measurements, so that all parts of the mold have the same consistency.

Once the plaster rough shell molds have been made, the molds are soaked in water until they are saturated. Wax and water do not mix. So molten wax may be poured into a water-saturated plaster mold, and the wax will not stick to the plaster. Furthermore, the wax will first start to thicken around the walls of the water-saturated plaster mold. When the wax is thick enough, the excess wax that is still molten, may be poured back into the wax pot. This will give you a hollow casting.

Once Martha had poured all six doll parts in carving wax, she made her decisions for the joints, then cut the carving wax doll parts where she wanted to place the joints. She had made other plaster molds of spheres, for balls for joints, and she cast carving wax into those water-saturated plaster molds to create carving wax balls for the doll's joints. Martha used a wax pen to weld the carving wax balls to the carving wax doll parts. I use a low-wattage 25W soldering iron for the same purpose, or, I also use a jeweler's alcohol lamp and metal tools for the same purpose.

The cool thing is, carving wax, while being relatively easy to work on with tools, is strong enough to be test strung with elastic. Once Martha designed her joints, and test strung the doll with elastic, she would refine the doll parts until they were ready to use as Masters for making the porcelain slip casting molds in plaster.

Recently, I have been using moulage molds to cast carving wax doll parts. The moulage molds are suitable for casting wax or plaster into them. The carving wax will thicken along the walls of the moulage mold, and when it is thick enough, I can pour the excess back into the wax pot, and have a hollow carving wax casting. The advantage of using moulage over plaster is that moulage is reusable.

Okay, so now you want to know if carving wax can be cast in silicone rubber molds?
The answer is: Yes.
The carving wax will thicken along the walls of the silicone rubber mold, and when it is thick enough, the excess wax can be poured back into the wax pot, making a hollow carving wax casting.

Essentially, for casting carving wax, there is not much difference between a water-saturated plaster mold, a moulage mold, or a silicone rubber mold. Carving wax may be cast in all three types of molds. I have cast wax into all three types of molds.

In his book, Pop Sculpture, Tim Bruckner models his original figures in sulfur-free oil-clay over an armature supported on a modeling stand. Then he removes the figure from the modeling stand, and cuts it into parts for molding. Tim uses silicone rubber waste molds. These molds are made from a combination of old silicone rubber molds, cut into small cubes, placed around the original sulfur-free oil clay figure parts in the mold box. Then new silicone rubber is mixed, and poured into the mold box, until it is a couple of inches above the figure. The mold is then put in a pressure pot, and pressure is applied to force the new silicone rubber into all the spaces between the cubes in the mold box. Once the mold has cured, he removes the sulfur-free oil clay figure part, and casts wax into the silicone rubber waste mold. He calls these waste molds because he reuses the rubber from the mold (by cutting it into cubes) when he makes his next figure. Then he refines the carving wax parts with a wax pen, metal tools, and sandpaper, et cetera. Once refined, the finished carving wax figure is used as a Master to make the resin-casting silicone rubber molds. Tim only uses fresh silicone rubber molds to make the resin castings of his figure.

It is important that you use sulfur-free oil clay if you plan on making a silicone rubber mold directly over your original clay model. This is because oil clay with sulfur in it, reacts adversely with silicone rubber.
Chavant is one example of a sulfur-free oil clay. It is also available in different grades of firmness.
Roma Plastilina is an example of an oil-clay that contains sulfur, so do not use it if you plan to make silicone rubber molds directly over it. It is fine to use if you are planning to make plaster molds over it.

See the similarity between how Martha and Tim (both of them professional toy makers) make their sculpture, using carving wax as an intermediary material between soft oil clay, and the final, finished sculpture? In Martha's case, she made porcelain BJDs. In Tim's case, he makes resin Action Figures.

Please ask more questions if there is anything you do not understand about using carving wax as an intermediary material between soft, easy-to-model oil clay, and the final sculpture. Carving wax just has so many wonderful properties that make it an amazing material for making the Masters for the final molds.

References:
Learning To Be A Doll Artist: an apprenticeship with Martha Armstong-Hand. (1999)
Pop Sculpture. Tim Bruckner. (2010)
Martha Armstrong-Hand's Method at the Enchanted forum.
http://atelierpoupee.blogspot.com/

 

The learning curve for using carving wax, is, in my opinion, somewhat steep. However, like anything else, practice and familiarity with carving wax is the key. I made a carving wax test doll so that I can practice working with the carving wax on an actual ball jointed doll. The Carving Wax Test Doll is currently strung with 3mm round doll elastic cord. I can unstring her, work on the joints, or try smoothing parts, add carving wax to parts, carve and cut the carving wax parts, then restring her to test what I have done. By the time I get around to making the carving wax parts for my BJD (Aalish), I am hoping that I will have some experience, and I will be able to easily finish the Master parts for the final molds. Yeah, it seems like a lot of work now, but I am planning on making dolls for a long time, so learning how to work with carving wax seems like a good investment of my time.

 

I use my alcohol lamp to heat my metal tools to work the carving wax. I have been experimenting with different ways to add carving wax to carving wax. Mainly, I melt the base carving wax where I want to add carving wax, then hold a piece of carving wax against the tool and drip carving wax into the melted area. I am also trying to add carving wax to carving wax by placing a small piece of carving wax where I want to add wax, then using my tool to fuse the piece of carving wax and the base carving wax together. This seems to work well for adding a lot of wax, quickly. The important thing seems to be to melt the base carving wax and the wax you want to add. Molten wax can be tricky to control, so that is why I am trying different things.

Martha Armstrong-Hand and Tim Bruckner use a wax pen and drip-drip-drip wax where they want it. If I just drip carving wax onto the cool base carving wax, there is a chance it will not adhere properly, and later, when I scrape it to shape with my knife, or dental tools, it can come off.

I do not use the flame of the lamp against the wax itself. As far as lighting and relighting the lamp, it really depends on what I am doing when I use the alcohol lamp. It usually stays lit when I am heating my tools for melting wax. But I usually put the cap over the wick to extinguish it when I am working with my tools, doing scraping, sanding, and so forth.

My lamp stays on my desk all the time. I try to keep it close to my work, but not so close that my hands pass over the flame too often. I use denatured alcohol in my alcohol lamp. It seems to be readily available in most hardware stores. It usually burns with a flame that is almost invisible, so you really need to be aware that it is lit. I would advise using an alcohol lamp in a clean, well lit workspace.

The lamp has a wick, and the flame on the wick isn't very big, so it isn't like there is some huge flame. It is about the size of a candle flame, but it doesn't burn as dirty as a candle flame. A candle flame will put a carbon-deposit on your tools, and leave black soot marks on your work. The alcohol lamp burns clean, and should not do that.

I'm not sure how long the alcohol lasts? I really don't pay attention to it until I need to refill it. However, I do need to go to the hardware store and buy some more denatured alcohol, since I am almost out. See my weblog for some recent pix of my workspace with a lit alcohol lamp burning on the desktop. I use a small plastic lid to catch wax shavings, and various studio-made tools and dental tools to work the wax.

For serious wax welding, I use a low-wattage 25W soldering iron with a forged tip to weld the carving wax together.

 

A 25W soldering iron is not as good as a wax pen.
You can adjust the heat with a wax pen.
When I plug-in my soldering iron, it heats up all the way, and stays there.
I do keep a cotton rag nearby, so I can wipe off the soldering iron to keep it from smoking.
It will smoke if wax is left on it.
Please use it in a well ventilated area.
Also, it is a good idea to have a holder for the soldering iron, to keep it off your bench.
It should be easy to bend one up from an old coat hanger.
Then tack the bent coat hanger down to a piece of wood.

In Pop Sculpture Tim Bruckner points to a Giles Wax Pen.
http://atelierpoupee.blogspot.com/2011/04/giles-precision-waxer.html

 

See Also: http://www.denofangels.com/joints/showthread.php?5358-DIY-Wax-Pen