Wax carving

It's something I never thought I could do, carving. I was never any good at working with clay or even carving Ivory soap bars on camping trips in Girl Scouts. Even now I still surprise myself when I finish a wax carving, that it turned out looking like what I intended it to.

Here's a brand new piece that I carved last weekend. It took me about 3 1/2 hours to carve it, but I had to take little breaks in between. Usually when I start swearing I know it's time to walk away from my bench.

Step one, start with a block of wax:

Step two, saw off a slab and trace pattern onto the block:


Step three, saw out a rough shape:


Step four, shape with files, fingernail, rough cloth, whatever ya got:


Step five, using burrs carve out the back of the piece and create a bail:


Last step, smooth it out until it's perfect and ready for casting:


Stay tuned for the final piece...