Musings from Chantal’s Bench: A Deep Dive into Wax Carving & Sand Casting

Welcome back to the bench! Pull up a stool — today I want to chat about one of my favourite creative outlets : wax carving and sand casting.

Back in October 2024, I packed my bags and headed to Italy for a week-long class with Metalsmiths in Florence, coordinated by the amazing CiaoMonica. If you ever get the chance to travel and learn a new skill at the same time, I cannot recommend her classes enough. It was a full week — a true deep dive into wax carving and sand casting — and it delivered on every level. I learned so much, met some incredible women, drank some very good wine, and made my very first gold ring. Not a bad week, honestly.

Discovering My (Unscientific) Process

The biggest takeaway from the class? I am not a scientific jeweller. Not even a little bit. The method we were taught involved carving wax to scale using graph paper and a drawing compass — which sounds straightforward enough, until you’re wrestling with a compass trying to get the pencil to cooperate. Clearly I should have paid more attention in grade school! I’m a hands-on, visual learner, and that precise, technical approach was a real challenge for me.

I came home fully intending to practise drawing to scale. That lasted about five minutes. I’ve since thrown the graph paper out the window and leaned into my natural instinct: pick up the wax and see where it takes me.

Sometimes I have a loose idea in mind. Other times, I’ll reach for a wax block when I’m in a creative lull at the bench and not feeling inspired by metal. It’s also perfect for those days when time is short — wax carving is incredibly forgiving and cost-effective. With silver and gold prices being so crazy right now, being able to play, experiment, and make mistakes in wax rather than precious metal is a big bonus.

The Tools That Changed Everything

While I was in Italy, one of the women in my class mentioned she’d taken a class with Kate Wolf and raved about her wax carving tools. Naturally, that sent me straight down  another rabbit hole — and I’m so glad it did. Kate’s tools are excellent. If you’re planning to do any wax carving at all, I highly recommend checking out her full range at wolftools.com. A quick note: there are imitations floating around on Amazon — please skip those. Supporting the original is always worth it.

I went with the set of 18 tools. Kate’s website does a great job of describing each one, though I’ll be honest — I have my favourites that I reach for most often and haven’t fully explored all 18 yet. That’s a project for a slow bench day…

Understanding Wax Types

Not all jewellery wax is created equal, and choosing the right one makes a real difference. Here’s a quick breakdown of a few options :

Green Wax — Very hard with no flexibility. Best for sharp edges, intricate carvings, and fine detail work. This is what I learned on, and it’s what we use a lot of in the studio. You can find it here.

Purple Wax — A general-purpose wax that’s hard but with a little flexibility. A great all-rounder. (I have never used purple)

Blue Wax — Softer and more flexible than green or purple. Ideal for rounded surfaces and less intricate designs. This is the most popular choice among jewellers, and the one I’d suggest starting with if you’re new to wax carving.

And then there’s Kate Wolf’s wax, which is a joy to work with. Keep an eye on Rio Grande — it goes on sale there from time to time. Once I work through my current stash of green and blue, I think I’ll be making the switch permanently.

What’s Next: Additive Wax Work

Most of my wax work so far has been subtractive — carving away wax to reveal a design. But I’ve been curious about additive techniques: starting from nothing and building up a design by melting and adding wax. I recently picked up an inexpensive soldering pen from Amazon (it did not work for soldering jump rings, in case you were wondering!), so my next experiment will be using it to melt wax and see what I can create. I’ll report back on that adventure.

There are so many directions to explore and so many decisions to make — and honestly, that’s what I love most about this craft. There’s always something new waiting at the bench.

Until next time — cheers! 🥂

— Chantal