[Jewelry making - Article 00154] - Re: [Orchid] How often do you "start over"

[David L. Huffman]

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Hello all;

    I can't remember the name of the original poster of this thread, but
    I do remember the question. He was asking if other people noticed
    they were starting over on wax carvings, specifically. I have been
    carving wax since some time in the early 70's, and I've carved
    everything you can imagine. And I too, come to think of it, have a
    fair number of do-overs when carving waxes. I'm not sure what the
    issue is, but I have several theories. 

    1. You get better insight into problems at about 20 or 30 years into
    it. It's much easier to re-carve or adjust a wax than it is to try to
    fit a stone in a slightly too small head, for instance, after it's in
    metal. Or, you notice that there's a risk of an area being too thin
    after finishing, and you know it probably can't be corrected in
    metal. Or that channel seems that it might be a hair to wide, so you
    know that if that's true, you'll have a miserable time setting. Years
    before, you might not have noticed these details and just struggled
    with it after casting, never putting two-and-two together. 

    2. You're just plain picker about the work. Your eye for a good
    balance and proportion is better, but you're still using habits of
    working without thought. You didn't listen to the small voice in your
    head as you laid the dividers on the ring tube to mark it off. It
    said, "maybe that's a bit shy, do you really want to cut it that
    close?" You work on, until you give up, knowing it's going south on
    you and you start over, prepared, this time to give yourself room for
    better. You are not becoming a perfectionist, you're appropriately
    raising the bar on yourself because you've lost your tolerance "good
    enough". 

    3. You're doing stuff that's harder. When all you did was formulaic
    stuff, the generic man's signet, the cathedral ring, the
    "step-and-channel" designs of the early 80's, it was all dividers and
    files. Now it's got to have some style, and it's still "clean line
    organic" but it's symmetrical, or you're carving heads when before,
    you didn't design for any heads you couldn't buy and solder in. 

    4. Lastly, you're getting forgetful. You've always done them over,
    you've just forgotten how often you used to have to. Haha. 

    5. I'm sure there are other reasons, but I smell burning rubber so I
    suspect I'm spinning my wheels now. Personally, I wouldn't worry
    about it. Just charge more to cover the time you need to "do it
    right". I know people who spend hours on a wax I can whip out in 45
    minutes, and I'm not exaggerating. If I do it twice in an hour and a
    half, the customer is still getting a bargain at 75 bucks, since
    they'd be doing it themselves if they could do it better and/or
    cheaper. 

David L. Huffman
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