Wax Carving for Jewellery Course

Quite some time ago now, I signed up for a wax carving course at Morley College. I’ve been carving for a few years but, as I’m self-taught, I thought some tuition from the wax master himself, Russell Lownsborough, would be helpful. It was such a great class, from basics to beyond, and I’d highly recommend it. I finally had some time to get my project cast into silver and finished, so I can share the process.

I may have mentioned before that I’m not great with 3D objects. My brain just doesn’t work that way. My design process is generally just staring at a lump of wax in bafflement for a while, trying to work out how to even begin!

We started off with making some basic shapes in the first session, learning how to work with the tools and how to visualise the finished shape. The next step was to come up with a design for something we wanted to make, with guidance from Russell. I wanted to learn to carve a stone setting, an intro to scroll work and some granulation. It wasn’t really about the finished piece, more about the journey to get there, so my ring is a somewhat strange design!

Starting with a chonker of a ring blank, the first task is to cut and file away the bulk of unnecessary wax and making sure the inner hole actually fits your finger. Then it’s on to marking out the setting and starting to carve the shape out.

Chipping away at more of the bulk around the setting, and starting to give the sides some shape, and finally the detail on the scroll work.

Once it’s all sanded and smoothed, the last thing was to add the tiny wax balls, which I forgot to take a picture of. But here’s the finished masterpiece! Okay, yes, it’s still a weird ring, but I set the stone by myself and everything. I do really like the blue topaz pear though, so I might actually wear it!

Anyway, if you’re interested in learning how to carve, check out Morley College and definitely sign up if Russell is currently running a class there.