About Sculpting Wax
What is sculpting wax?
Sculpting wax is hard and brittle material that requires metal carving tools to manipulate. It can be melted down and cast into mold or applied to existing models. The melting point of many sculpting waxes is around 160°F (71°C).
Typical properties include:
Hard at room temperature (doesn’t take fingerprints)
Able to be carved, sanded and polished
Requires hot tools for additive sculpting
Can be melted and poured into molds
Sculpting wax is a very convenient medium for getting clean, sharp detail at a small scale. It can also achieve a high gloss finish that other mediums can’t.
Wax can also be added to other surfaces, such as styrene, cardboard, or resin!
How does sculpting wax differ from clay?
The qualities of sculpting wax are distinctly different from ‘clay’ which is typically soft enough to manipulate with your fingers at room temperature.
There are wax-based clays, like Monster Clay, which can be melted and cast into molds, but they can still be manipulated with your fingers at room temperature.
Hybrid clay-wax, like Cx5 and Relix, is hard at room temperature, but pliable at temperatures greater than body temp but not to hot to handle, so it can still be manipulated like clay.
Wax ingredients
Sculpting wax is a blend of different types of waxes, fillers, and colorants. The sculpting properties of these waxes vary based on the proportion of each ingredient.
The color of sculpting wax has practical implications. Naturally, the melted ingredients produce a greenish gray translucent wax. This can make details harder to see when sculpting and in photographs. The opacity can be increased using white pigment. Darker tone waxes can improve the visibility of details under bright work lights and in photography.
Crayons are a common colorant, however titanium dioxide (white) and burnt sienna pigment (warm yellow brown) can also be used. When using powdered pigments, it’s important to ensure the powder is fully emulsified in the wax.
Aside from the objective qualities, it’s not uncommon for sculptors to have their personal color recipe.
When is wax typically used in the toy making process?
In the traditional toy making process, the wax sculpt is typically a finishing step for details and surface texture that are more difficult to produce in clay. In fact, many wax sculpts will begin with a “clay rough” that is molded and used for wax castings.
If you are creating a model that will be molded and cast in resin, sculpting wax can offer you a quick and efficient way to get professional results. Give it a shot!