I made my own WAX PEN. It was easy !!! It did not cost very much. It has a push ON/OFF switch, and a rotary dial for regulating the amount of electricity. I use it with a low-wattage soldering iron, or a wood-burning tool. Now I need to practice learning how to use it on my carving wax doll parts. (^_^)
It really is amazing! I am not the inventor. I just know how to read. I followed the tutorial at Instructables.Com. I did make the Wiring Diagram because it helped me to understand the circuit of the controller. It really is easy to make. I wrote about my experience making one at my blog. (^_^)
Comparison of DIY Wax Pen and a Commercial Wax Pen Giles Precision Waxer Cost: $169.95 (price quote from FDJ On Time) DIY Wax Pen Cost: $30.00 The BJD-making process I am currently following is based on Martha Armstrong-Hand's method, as described in her book, Learning To Be A Doll Artist; and is similar to the process described by Tim Bruckner in his book, Pop Sculpture. The process involves modeling the original figure in oil-clay over a wire armature supported by a modeling stand. After modeling, the figure is removed from the modeling stand and cut apart at the limbs and head. The torso, limbs, and head are then molded and cast in carving wax. Armstrong-Hand makes plaster waste molds, and Bruckner makes silicone rubber waste molds. The cast carving wax parts are then refined for use as patterns for making the final molds for casting the figure. Armstrong-Hand makes final molds from plaster. She casts porcelain to make the final BJD. Bruckner makes final molds from silicone rubber. He casts resin as the final figure. It is during the carving wax design and refinement stage of working on the figure that a wax pen is useful. The wax pen can be used to add carving wax, as well as to weld carving wax balls to limbs to make joints. The carving wax itself is tough enough to withstand elastic tensioning, so the BJD WIP can be test strung. Being able to test string a BJD during the design stage is a good thing. In addition, the carving wax is reusable. A batch of carving wax should last a doll maker for their entire sculpting life. The carving wax stage is used because oil-clay is too soft to withstand tensioning, and cannot be highly refined. Thus: Oil-clay --> carving wax --> final BJD casting. I would like to add that I wish I had discovered carving wax when I first started making figurative sculpture. It is trully an awesome sculpture material. The fact that I can make my own wax pen for a fraction of the cost of a brand new commercial wax pen is also awesome. (^_^)
I have 2 Giles precision waxers. They are real expensive for that they are. It is a real simple device and when it goes bad, it is usually the switch that fails. I have replaced switch a few times. I have Kerr ultra waxer, too. That thing is like 400 bucks. It is more high tech looking and got many tips for it, but it is crazy expensive... They are intended for dental work, so dentists can afford them. I guess. Like Ron Swanson says "People who buy things are suckers."
Thank you for your reply, Switchum. I have never met anyone who owns a professional waxer, so I am pleased to meet you. The DIY Wax Pen I made is my first controllable hand-held electric wax tool (I also have a wax pot.). Before I made it, I used a low-wattage 25W soldering iron (too hot), or a jeweler's alcohol lamp and metal tools. Now I can use the same low-wattage 25W soldering iron, but I can control the heat. It makes all the difference in the world !!! I am learning how to use my DIY Wax Pen by using it. This is more or less what I am doing with it: (Click on the image to see the original post at my weblog.) From what I understand, the original Giles Precision Waxer was developed in 1926 for working on wax figurines. The professional waxer shown in Learning To Be A Doll Artist (1999), by Martha Armstrong-Hand (1920-2004), appears to be a Giles Professional Waxer. I would be VERY interested if you would be able to take time to explain how you use your professional waxer, and what exactly you do with it? I am also interested in the various wax pen tips you have, and the different ways you use them. I am currently making a BJD, following Martha Armstrong-Hand's method, and am at the carving wax stage of the process. My favorite carving wax related quote of Martha's is: The actual work is practice, practice and more practice: adding, subtracting, and smoothing repeatedly. I add carving wax by melting the base that I am adding to, with the wax pen, then using it to drip carving wax into the base melt. I subtract carving wax with various tools, including a small set of woodcarving tools, but mainly with a kitchen paring knife. I smooth carving wax with various grades of sandpaper, going from rough to fine grits. Pleased to meet you. (^_^)
Nice to meet you, too Kwmelvin I actually have been following your blog when I started to develop an interest in designing BJD. I see you use classic wax? I can do the same stuff without a waxer as long as I have an alcohol lamp and some tools, but using waxer is so much faster and got more control. I use somewhat non-sticky wax, so I often use waxer for bonding two parts. Otherwise they are like glued with superglue; very brittle at the joint. One time, I let a figure fall on the desk and the figure shattered in bunch of pieces like a young man's dream. Other than that, a waxer is used for detailing, adding some texture. Most common usage is probably veins, folds on clothing and such. So BJD having smooth surfaces without any clothing, might not be used as much as sculpting a regular statue. However, I find it quite useful for sculpting heads since adding bit of wax on the tip of the nose or raising eye rids are pain without a waxer. Here you can see some wrinkles are drawn by a waxer View attachment 271 Here waxer is used to emphasize the folds on a shirt View attachment 272 Geez I never knew Giles waxer was made for figurines. I thought it was for either jewel making or typical dental work tool. BY the way never buy tools from art supply stores. Dental tool store is much cheaper. I have a few tips and many commercial sculptors like to modify the tip of their liking but they are basically pen style, spoon style and spatula style. View attachment 270 I use sand paper, files to smooth out the surface as well. Often use those aerosol air cans upside down to freeze the surface. Sands, files easier that way. I have background in ceramics and those metal ribs comes in handy for smoothing. Need bit of practice, though. Good to meet you as well.
DIY Wax Pen, pen tips, and carving wax I made my own Carving Wax, based on a modified version of Martha Armstrong-Hand's carving wax recipe, which I further modified. I only had to purchase the talc to make my carving wax because I already had the microcrystalline and paraffin waxes in my studio. I did not bother with the beeswax and carnauba waxes in Martha's recipe, and my modified recipe works fine (for me). I found Baby Powder Talc at Dollar General, and used it instead of Industrial Talc, so my carving wax smells like a freshly dusted baby's bum. I tried an experiment with talc and candle wax, but the result was way too brittle. I think the long-fiber microcrystalline wax (Victory Brown) gives my carving wax the wee bit of give I need for it to work for me. Of course, the paraffin and the talc give it the hardness for carving. I am just lucky that I have some Victory Brown microcrystalline wax left over, from a case I bought many years ago. From what I understand, the Victory Brown made today is not the same quality as it was years ago, due to the lower quality of oil that is being pumped these days. Microcystalline wax is a by-product of the petroleum industry. Each of the waxes have different properties, such as being relatively soft and hard, with long and short fibers. The talc keeps the waxes from shrinking too much. My carving wax shrinks a wee bit less than 3% when it is cast. The talc filler and wax binder makes for a very homogeneous carving material. The carving wax can be machined, drilled, cut, carved, melted, cast, welded, and finished glass smooth. It does not crumble when carved, like baked polymer clay, and it is easier to carve than cured epoxy clay. Yet, it is tough enough to tension with round elastic doll cord, a very desirable property when making BJDs. It is brittle to a certain extent, and I have dropped a cast carving wax torso on the floor, and it shattered in several pieces. However, I was able to fit the pieces back together again, and weld them solidly with my wax pen. My carving wax is simply an amazing design material. I wish I had known about it from the start. One of the best things about it is that it is reusable. I do not consider my carving wax to be a primary modeling material !!! It can be modeled while it is warm, but I do not consider working with a really warm modeling material to be desirable. I can set the temperature on my wax pot so the carving wax softens, but does not melt. Instead, I model with a non-sulfur plastiline oil-clay, over an armature, supported by an armature support on a modeling stand. Cool, firm oil-clay can be softened by placing it in a box with a low-wattage light bulb over it. The warmed oil-clay is extremely responsive to the touch, yet is not as hot as softened carving wax. Oil-clay is beginner-friendly, does not dry out, harden, or shrink, but is too soft for test-stringing or refining to a high finish. I remove the oil-clay figure from the modeling stand, cut it apart, and waste mold the parts. Then I cast carving wax in the waste molds. From then on, the work is done on the carving wax parts. It is the method described by Martha Armstrong-Hand (1920-2004) in her book, Learning To Be A Doll Artist (1999), for making fully articulated porcelain BJDs which are tensioned with extension springs, swivels, s-hooks, and pins. This is also the method described in Tim Bruckner's book, Pop Sculpture, for making hinge-jointed Action Figures and static Garage Kit Figurines. I currently have a woodburning tool connected to my DIY Wax Pen controller, and it has a hand-forged tip on it. I used a brass machine screw that had the same screw thread as the woodburning tip, and formed it on a jeweler's mandrel. Then I screwed my custom tip into the woodburning tool, and it is what I am using. It is a spatula shape, I guess? I am still learning what I can do with my DIY Wax Pen. Like you mentioned, it makes working with wax so much easier. I can now control the heat to my wax pen so that my carving wax just melts, without smoking. That is very nice. I also have a Weller SP-23 25W-120V low-wattage soldering iron. I can buy extra tips for it at the hardware store. Those extra tips can also be hand-forged to make specific shapes, but I like the standard pencil-point shape. Anyway, I never could come up with enough spare change to buy a professional waxer, so I am so happy that this $13 heat controller works so well with my woodburning tool and my low-wattage soldering iron, each of which cost less than $15, and which can accept inexpensive custom-made hand-forged tips. (^_^)
That's so cool! My household has two woodburning tools. The older one cost about $15 (US) and is plugged into a temperature regulator which cost about $50. The newer one cost came with a built-in regulator and cost us something like $15 at Dick Blick. The separate regulator works okay for my purposes (carving and smoothing wax), but I have to lower the setting continuously while working. My partner in art crime uses the other one for pyrography on leather, but it could probably be used as a cheap wax pen for anyone looking for something to experiment with.
I have my DIY Wax Pen set at a temperature that just melts my carving wax without smoking. My carving wax has a melting temperature of about 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is way below the boiling point of water. I made a mark on the DIY controller which is where I set the rotating dial of the 600W light dimmer. It only took a short amount of time to figure out where the sweet spot was for my carving wax. So the 600W light dimmer inside the controller is way more than enough to heat the 25W woodburning tool to 160 degrees and keep it there for the time I work with it. The light dimmer itself is a push-ON/OFF switch. For a hobbyist, this is a perfect tool for working with sculpture waxes. It is easy and inexpensive to make. I do not use my wax pen for more than an hour at a time. It is only used at low temperatures. I always turn it off when I leave my work table. It heats up in a short amount of time and maintains its temperature nicely. I cannot justify spending $150.00 USD to $400.00 USD for a professional waxer if I am not using the wax pen continuously for 6 to 8+ hours a day in critical applications, such as tooling dental waxes, or whatever. I can use machine screws to make custom tips for the pen. A new pen only costs about $10.00 USD (low wattage soldering irons or woodburning tools). A brand new light dimmer for $5.00 USD will repair a burned-out temperature controller (I have NOT had to replace the 600W light dimmer in the controller yet). I am doing everything that I need to do with my carving wax, using my DIY Wax Pen. I can add, subtract, and weld the carving wax. The carving wax itself is an amazing 3D design material. The talc in the carving wax helps keep shrinkage of the waxes to a minimum. It can be melted and poured into various types of molds. It is very homogeneous, and carves, drills, and cuts extremely well. It can be sanded glass smooth, if desired. It is strong enough to be test strung with round elastic doll cord. I made it in my studio using a wax pot made from an old aluminum pressure cooker and a single burner electric hot plate. My carving wax recipe, by weight, is 1 part microcrystalline wax (Victory Brown sculpture wax), 1 part paraffin (melts at 160 degress F. - not the soft canning paraffin), and 2 parts talc (I used baby talc - so my carving wax smells like a freshly dusted baby's bum). The actual work is practice, practice and more practice: adding subtracting, and smoothing repeatedly. ~ Martha Armstrong-Hand (4 July 1920 - 22 October 2004) (^_^)
