My silver sculpture through the lost wax casting

wax fairy

silver fairy

I create my silver sculpture through the lost-wax casting, a process used to mold various types of metal into pieces of jewelry and sculptures.

Since I was a small child, I have been passionately fond of gnomes. I love these tiny creatures that are a medium to the childish part of ourselves and to the enchanted world of fantasy, game and purity of heart.

To create sterling silver sculpture I begin by moulding the wax.

Some time ago I used only injection wax, now I sometimes use soft wax too.

Injection wax is more difficult to carve or to hollow out. Soft wax is easy to carve but is more difficult to mould when I work on tiny sculptures because they can too easily bend.For very small sculptures I generally use injection wax because it is hard.

Injection wax:

In small fairy figurines, for example, I start from the skeleton that I make with thin wax wires.

I cut them with a cutter and unify them with a small drop of wax. I warm a needle on the flame of an alcohol burner, I take a tiny quantity of wax and I let the drop fall between the two wax wires to allow the structure to move, so I can give the figure the pose I want.

When the skeleton is complete and I gave it the right pose, I begin dripping the hot wax on this structure. This kind of wax cools very fast, but if the drop is too hot, I can destroy the wires. It is important that wax has the right temperature. The mastery of this technique can come only from experience.

After dripping a sufficient quantity of wax I start moulding it with a hot needle, putting the needle on the flame of an alcohol burner. This way step by step I cover all the skeleton with wax.

When I want to create a very thin and elongated shape, such as a very small finger, I put wax on the micro sculpture with the needle. I blow on it with my mouth and move the needle trying to give the shape I want. As soon as the wax starts cooling the first rough shape of a finger appears. Of course it needs more work to take a finished shape.

When I want to smooth a surface I use trichloroethylene with a cotton stick, a piece of blotting paper or a toothpick wrapped up in the tissue-paper that I find between the wax sheets.

All the process needs a lot of patience and work especially in a very small fairy figurine or in tiny decorations on a ring, but when the result is good it all can provide a lot of satisfaction.

When the miniature in wax is finished I take it to a laboratory that will turn it into a silver sculpture, of course other materials such as bronze and gold can be used as well.

wax elf

silver elf

wax elf

silver elf

little fairy on a leaf (in wax)

little fairy on a leaf

elf sitting cross-legged (wax)

little fairy seated (in wax)

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