[Jewelry making - Article 00147] - [Orchid] Radial Symmetry by wax build up technique

[Jay C]

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    I attended a Louisiana Vocational Technical Jewelry School from
    1977- 1981. It went out of existence in the early 1990's along with
    its watchmaking school. I worked briefly in commercial manufacturing
    in Dallas, TX, but returned to being a Registered Nurse which was
    more reliable at the time. I have continued to work in wax and metal
    since then, though it is a struggle as I get older to balance all
    activities. 

    I have had sales in local art galleries, and 2 shows. The 12 rayed
    sea urchin shape was in a 1993 show at the New Orleans Museum of Art
    for Louisiana Craftsman. I like to play with negative and positive
    space, and to let the eye fool the brain into seeing "perfection"
    when multiple almost exact images are place side by side. In the
    beginning I did all the rays one at a time, but now usually make
    components as these pieces were done. They were cast in single
    pieces. The larger is 2 inches in diameter and less than 1/2 inch in
    height. 

    http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/cardwell.jpg

    At room temperature common injection wax is a solid. When heated it
    becomes a liquid, and it will ball up when picked up on a alcohol
    flame needle because of surface tension. As it cools it can be
    manipulated. It can be dropped on other surfaces as a sphere, or
    pulled out into a line. One can build an armature of wax wire or use
    a piece of thin sheet wax as a base to work a design in relief.
    Insect antennae and legs, shellfish legs and feelers are possible
    more easily by this means. The only other alternative would be to
    file and carve metal wire, but then to combine it in all its delicacy
    could be a meltdown. Certain techniques, just as material, have
    inherent limits and possibilities. For example one does not expect to
    cast pieces that require spring tension, they must be hardened and
    fabricated.
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