The wax used to create the sculpture

People are surprised to learn the sculptures are created in wax. The school has large chunks of the brown wax that we melt and pour into molds for thin slabs. The pieces of wax on the right are remnants of slabs I used in prior projects. Some students carve directly in large chunks of wax like the thick piece on the left of the photo. We use dental tools, ceramic tools, putty knives and other items in shaping the sculpture. Jewelry torches are used to melt the wax and warm the tools for carving. A soldering iron is also used to melt the wax.