Welcome to my blog

Im exploring aspects of mehndi,designs,techniques,significance,function and historical background. I incorporate patterns that are either modern and traditional,Indian or Arabic into contemporary jewellery.





02 August 2012

wax recipes

now that i have my tool that works for drawing wax, i need to figure out how to prevent my wax from breaking?

my options are to mix other harder waxes so that the besswax is not so soft and sticky which allows it to break easily. on the other hand I could spray it with laquer or vanish in that way it will be sealed with hardness. The best wax i think is suitable for using is jewellerty casting injecting wax because these are cast and are not delicate and brittle. how ever i think it cools too quicly and is quite hard so i mixture with both beeswax and injecting wax might work well.


previously I used lunch paper/wax paper and tracing paper as my non stick surface to work on. Now im using silicone to draw on since wax doesnt stick to silicone. beeswax alone is way too sticky to use onto silicone because it does stick, I had to use a lubricant which worked well,my peices came off without a struggle.
this is my wax test pieces

STEP 1 : I tried 100% beeswax,keeps liquid for longer in my copper batik tool,it therefore has enough heated wax to complete a small pattern. beeswax sticks onto surface.its difficult to remove as opposed to the following wax mixtures

STEP 2 : I now tried using 3/4 beeswax and 1/4 injecting wax,cools slightly qicker than beeswax alone. I noticed that I had to re-heat the wax tool more often. its easier lifted off the silicone as opposed to beeswax,which means its getting better i should continue mixing more injecting wax.

STEP 3 : 1/2 beeswax and 1/2 injecting wax. Cools quickly,works very well to make little blobs,it lifts off the silicone very easily and the pattern doesnt break easily when handled.

STEP 4 : 3/4 injecting wax and 1/4 beeswax. the wax cools very quickly have to re-heat the tool very often. Makes beautiful blobs when worked in its almost cooling form. Lifts off very easily off the lubricated silicone and doesnt break easily.

STEP 5 : 100% injecting wax.wax is cooled extremely fast,you have to work fast and re-heat the tool approxmatly every minute.lifts off the lubricated surface very easily also doesnt break that easily.

I found using step 4 mixture works best because I now know that the injecting wax works beat but the only problem is that the wax is hard and cools quickly so if theres a small percentage of beeswax in the mixture it will slow down the cooling process and will work as good as injecting wax alone in ways that its hard and lifts off the silicone easily which means it wont break when handled. which makes it good enough for investing and loat wax casting

these are 75% injecting wax and 25% beeswax that worked well to make these detailed patterns.

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