sculpting in beeswax

[redthread]

Hi folks - This website is awesome. I've been making some beeswax sculptures (about a foot high, 6 inches aroundish), by making the positive in clay, casting that in dental alginate, and pouring beeswax in the mold. This gives me a nice smooth positive, and I can get a nice hollow form, but Alginate is kinda pricey, shrinks, and you can only get a couple or 3 good pours out of it.

Just wondered if anyone knows a cheaper, more permanant mold material to cast with?

And also, does anyone know the longevity implications of beeswax sculpture? (I got a nice one that's about 7 years old, and I live in the desert, but it's still doing great. I just don't want to sell someone something that's gonna cave in in 20 years.)

Thanks.

[fritchie]

I'm a little surprised even to see this question, beeswax has been so expensive locally (in the New Orleans area).

When I first started working in sculpture about 15 years ago, with my own wax casts for others to convert to bronze, it was recommended that I melt about 1 - 2 percent beeswax into regular, dark brown petroleum wax to harden it a bit and make it less sticky. I did that for about 6 - 8 years, and then natural beeswax got too expensive to use (maybe $15 for 1 - 2 ounces).

I found an "artificial beeswax" that sort of worked but wasn't as good, and a few years later located a different source for the natural material. I still use it for mixing, but no one I know uses it as a regular casting material.

I'm especially surprised that you can do this in a rather hot area. But, whatever works, ... !

P. S. - I see your main question is about alginate. I have no experience with that, and I don't know anyone who uses it except for very special projects, or in teaching.

[redthread]

Wow, 15 bucks for an ounce?? It is getting more expensive, but that's crazy! I got some at michael's (you know, that craft store) for 15$ a pound, but it's even cheaper through candle and bee-supply places. For now anyway!

Yeah, I'm not using it to burn out at all - the beeswax is the positive, the final piece.

Thanks for your reply.

-Red

[obseq]

Originally Posted by redthread

Hi folks - This website is awesome. I've been making some beeswax sculptures (about a foot high, 6 inches aroundish), by making the positive in clay, casting that in dental alginate, and pouring beeswax in the mold. This gives me a nice smooth positive, and I can get a nice hollow form, but Alginate is kinda pricey, shrinks, and you can only get a couple or 3 good pours out of it.

Just wondered if anyone knows a cheaper, more permanant mold material to cast with?

And also, does anyone know the longevity implications of beeswax sculpture? (I got a nice one that's about 7 years old, and I live in the desert, but it's still doing great. I just don't want to sell someone something that's gonna cave in in 20 years.)

Thanks.

Welcome, Red,

I'm not sure where in Arizona you reside, but when I lived in Tucson, I was able to get small bags of alginate from local dental supply stores for between $5-7 each. I am not sure what you pay now, but I felt they were a pretty good value overall.

[Andrew Werby]

While alginate is nice for quick-and-dirty one-off impressions, particularly of living subjects (since it's so non-toxic, flexible, and quick-setting) there are other materials that work better as permanent molds. My favorite is silicone rubber, but there are also others, such as natural latex and urethane rubber that all will work better than the alginate. These are typically held in plaster shells, to provide structure and support for the floppy mold material. See the alt.sculpture FAQs on my site for some more information and sources of supplies. Moldmaking is a pretty complex thing to learn; it's best done by watching a live expert, but there are also books and videos to get you started.

To buy beeswax considerably cheaper than the prices mentioned, try ebay; there are some regular sellers there who currently sell it for $4-$5 per pound (plus shipping) - if you wanted large quantities the price would probably go down. The brown petroleum wax, on the other hand, has become hard to find...

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

[halfbad]

Yeah, wax is great, especially beeswax. Nice surface and the smell is intoxicating, but it does tend to be a bit fragile. That being said, it is archival and will last through the ages, of course it is susceptible to melting, which is the biggest problem with wax in general. I have wax sculptures that are decades old and wax has proven to last for centuries. It may darken a bit over time, but other than that it has proven to be a great medium. As stated by other users here try apiaries and/or some of the more specialized art supply houses. The same holds true for alginate; you should be able to acquire it cheaper in bulk from some of the specialty houses-or for a more permanent mold go to an RTV type like the silicone or urethane. Alginate is pretty hard to beat for down and dirty though. I find that all of the aforementioned supplies can be had at one place and reasonably priced as well-Douglas and Sturgess out of SF. Their website is www.artstuf.com