FreeShip- Sculptor's Modeling Wax, Softest (Specialty Wax), Yellow Light, - (Prompt rebate on orders with 3 or more FreeShip items!)

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----> Go here to see all 3 modeling waxes: Yellow Light, Green Jade, Blue Glacier<----
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthernWestStuff?ref=hdr_shop_menu&search_query=modeling+wax

Yellow Light Specialty Modeling Wax:

Please note that on the item's page, the drop down menu "Weight and Shape" has only 3 shapes listed, "Ingot", "Cupcake", and "Sheet". In the pictures Ingot and Cupcake is self explanatory, but "Sheet" can mean 3 shapes: broken up sheets or a large rectangle with wavy lines on the top or a bar of soap shape. You will receive one or more of those shapes depending on the weight your order.

I've tried to be accurate, but as clear as possible in this description. If you want information before you buy, I've tried to put the more general info in simple terms at the top of the description, becoming more specific and technical in the center. Then general again towards the end. I'm also trying out a new idea (an INDEX) for descriptions of raw material items which have lots of properties, techniques for using, and tips.
Also some info on what they can and cannot do (important when it comes to spending your money on materials you hope will work for you).
At least you can scan the INDEX to get a very general idea of what this description contains. The more you read, the more knowledge you'll have for what you should buy. Also you'll have less frustration using a material when armed with some prior knowledge. If you buy the material you should come back to this description if you have questions. I've tried to make it an abridged user's manual. What's the saying? When all else fails, read the instruction manual?

INDEX:

0 = For a modeling wax with good general purpose qualities, choose the Green Jade wax
1 = General: introduction; softest wax, (soft at room temps)
2 = General: our modeling waxes and their applications
3 = Specific: temperature melting ranges, working temps
4 = Specific: manipulation methods and tools
5 = Specific: tackiness & joining pieces
6 = Specific: comparisons to beeswax & microcrystalline
7 = Specific: "readable"- color, translucency, sheen, custom colors
8 = Specific: choosing which wax grade, melting and warming
9 = General: methods for reading temperature points of waxes
10 = General: history of modeling wax and encaustic painting

0) For a "standard" modeling wax with good general purpose qualities, choose the Green Jade wax. Yellow Light and Blue Glacier each have unique properties which make them specialty waxes. Yellow Light is a low temperature, very soft wax, and Blue Glacier has several unexpected qualities for a modeling wax. In general it is harder and less malleable than the other 2.

1) This is the listing for "Yellow Light Modeling Wax", which is the softest modeling wax, very flexible at room temperatures. Pricing and quantities: we strive to make each shape weigh at least the lowest weight that's listed under "Weight". Most are in the upper range (at or even above the highest weight listed). Use the INDEX above to go to different topics of discussion for this "Yellow Light" wax, which is the softest/lowest temperature of the modeling waxes. ("Light" here means "sunlight").
Please note that we can supply these modeling waxes in quantities of 15 lbs with a short lead time of a few days. Quantities above that would require 1 to 2 weeks lead time.

2) A general description of these 3 modeling waxes (Yellow Light, Green Jade, Blue Glacier) might be stated by giving the intent behind their formulation. We wanted to offer a set of modeling waxes that would give a broad choice of working properties by being quite distinct from one another in physical properties like working temperatures, softness, malleability, homogeneity, plasticity, flexibility, elasticity, ductility, resilience, flexural strength, tackiness, etc. They have only one common ingredient, other ingredients are entirely different from one to another. They are not just mixes of beeswax, paraffin, microcrystalline, or other waxes (or fillers) with varying proportions of the same ingredients. This means they may have certain working qualities (physical properties, above) that are quite different when they're heated to comparable softness. None of the 3 contain inert inorganic fillers, so they will all be completely "lost" (completely combusted by heat) during burn-out in the lost wax process.
Note that the Yellow Light Wax and the 2 other colors were NOT made with jewelry wax carvers in mind. Most jewelry projects are too small (exceptions being pendants or cuff bracelets). They won't take tiny details (like prongs for settings, etc). Although, if you became familiar with them, you might find one or two with a property that could come in handy for a particular carving. You could, for instance make a good "disclosing" wax by melting in a little vaseline and adding some titanium dioxide for a white opacity to the Yellow Light or Green Jade waxes. If you're unfamiliar with disclosing wax, see the Rio Grande wax section, which is a great place to browse for hard (and a few soft) jewelry waxes and read very brief descriptions of them.
Note also that this is not intended as a casting wax.
Yellow Light Wax and the 2 other colors were formulated with sculptors in mind for works that will fit in a hand (golf ball size, perhaps?), or larger. They can be worked with wax or dental tools or modeled with just fingers (although the softest would need a "release agent" for fingers because of increased tackiness, more on that below). Larger sculptures with long appendages will need a soft aluminum wire armature (we carry some in several thicknesses). Large bulky sculptures will need a central core or will need to be built up with walls and a hollow center (like a pinch pot in clay). Wadded up newspapers tied with string, rigid polystyrene foam cut to the rough shape of the sculpture, or layers or aluminum foil formed hollow in the same shape.
Together, these waxes cover a wide range of temperatures at which workability is ideal using a specific working/tooling method for the individual sculptor's preference.

3) The wax in this listing covers the lowest temperature range of the 3 modeling waxes. It's workable at lower temperatures than any other modeling wax you may find on the market. I put it in the fridge and later the freezer. It's still a little bendable in the 40's F. I had to go to the very low 30's for it to become hard and brittle enough to break (when in thin sheets). It's surprisingly pliable in the 50 F range, and it's a wonderful wax if you are working in ambient temps in the 60's or very low 70's F. It has super plasticity at ambient temperatures in the mid 70's or low 80's range. Very much above that and it becomes a paste. It will just begin to melt with a heat gun held at 8" above it and swirled around at about 95 F. This would be called it's melting point or "solidus" point. It's the point (or range if your measurements are not laboratory quality) below which it's completely solid. To become fully liquid in a container in a reasonable time frame you'll need to take it up to the 130's to 140's F. Going back the other way, from a liquid to a solid, it will just begin to congeal in the mid 120's F. This would be called it's congealing point or "liquidus" point. It's the point (or range) above which it's completely liquid. The temperatures between the solidus and liquidus lines, when a mixture is part solid and part liquid is called its "melting range". The melting range of a single material can be used as a guide to tell how pure it is. If it's a small number (1 or 2 degrees) the substance is pretty pure. A wide melting range is more common, mixtures of substances with quite differing congealing temps usually have a wide melting range. The melting range of this wax is (approximately) 120F - 95F = 25 F which is pretty wide. It's definitely a mixture of differing ingredients. A note on the "congealing temperature": it's much easier to determine just by visual observation than finding an accurate melting temperature. Determining accurate melting temperatures requires observations of crystals in a capillary tube and accurate temperature readouts. Expensive lab equipment can make the job easier. Congealing temperatures are more consistent and can be determined with simple tools.
Note that the given temperatures above were read with an infrared thermometer. If you're using a different method you may find my listed temperatures don't agree with yours, more on that in (9).

4) Despite the softness of Yellow Light Wax and its low working temperature range, it has a nice "feel", a substantial heaviness that gives you good feedback when you're working with it by any number of finger manipulations, such as:
pushing, smearing, smushing, squashing, poking, stretching, twisting, scraping, scoring, thumb smudging/smearing, palm or thumb wedging, squeezing while pulling, compressing from opposite sides, pressing and drawing, etc. If you're going to use tools other than your fingers, you can use high carbon steel, stainless steel. Metal tools can be heated so you can keep the tool's point of contact with a tacky wax smooth by keeping it warm with an alcohol lamp and you can also heat it even more to remove wax quickly or for welding purposes.
There is a special wax working tool called a "wax pen". They have loops of resistance wire which heats up very quickly to as high as red heat. The very expensive ones are worth it, especially those with a foot pedal. They can be fine tuned very specifically by tapping the foot control repeatedly or holding it down continuously. I get 1 F or less temp control with mine, and can change the shape of a form by inserting the wire tip at various depths and temps while holding the workpiece at different angles and using gravity to "slump" the shape in different directions, or getting it lower or higher, without adding or removing wax. Of course it's very easy to add wax, just tap the pedal for more heat while pressing the tip into a wax source, and picking up the tip which will have a blob of molten wax of a size which is controlled by heat, more heat means a smaller blob and vise versa. I would not trust the cheaper battery wax pens and if you see one with a cork between the handle and tip it's almost certainly a large one that doesn't give you much control.

5) This wax has a fairly high tackiness even at low temps so it joins to itself better that any of the three. Any modeling wax or clay will not bond to itself perfectly by just pressing 2 pieces together, but this one holds together strongly enough so that a permanent joint may be made with a metal tool that's hot enough to push into the existing joint area melting wax from the two pieces together into a strong weld. Wax may then be added to the joint to form more or less of a fillet for additional strength. Borrowing a method from ceramists, join 2 pieces by scoring and heating surfaces, then pushing together (same as clay only apply heat instead of slip).
Of course, tackiness means sticking to skin if you like modeling with just your fingers. I've found you can reduce wax transferring to skin by using a very small amount of pure silicone oil as a lotion for the fingers. For those who might object to silicone oil as "bad chemical on skin", I'd counter that unmodified silicone oil is one of the most inert and safe liquids in existence, natural or synthetic. It does not combine with skin or sink into skin because of its non-reactive nature. It presents a slippery surface to the wax, but doesn't easily combine with wax ingredients and so does not transfer as well to the wax as a mineral oil (although if used a great many times silicone will get "folded" into the wax and will reduce it's plasticity- use it sparingly). We carry a 100 cSt silicone oil, which is a good low viscosity for getting a THIN layer on the fingers. Mineral oil will have a similar effect as silicone oil but it WILL mix readily with the wax. After a while enough will combine with the wax and make it softer while not increasing plasticity. Note that with the Blue Glacier I've experimented with thin amounts of vaseline on the fingers and had encouraging results. I have not tried it with this Yellow Light wax from simple lack of time.

6) If you're already familiar with waxes, a good way to describe the properties of this wax is to compare it to other waxes that are flexible (most wax is not flexible). The two most well known are beeswax and microcrystalline wax. There are many kinds of each, they both can be more or less refined, bleached, or have different melting points (MP). Yellow Light Modeling Wax is closer to beeswax in temperature ranges than the higher temp microcrystallines. But it's closer to microcrystalline in tackiness and workability when micro gets up to working temps. Beeswax alone is not a great modeling wax, even when warmed up to working temps (mid to upper 80's F). It is usually combined with other waxes or fillers to improve its deficiencies. References in old texts call it too hard and "short" to use by itself. "Short" means when it's manipulated, it's not entirely self-cohesive of body, but may be crumbly, friable, or develop cracks especially around the edges or at the point of contact with whatever tool you're using, fingers or modeling tools. Short is also a term used in ceramics for clays with similar problems. They are not "plastic" enough, plastic in this case referring to plasticity or ductility.
Microcrystalline wax requires more heat than beeswax to bring up to working temperatures (mid to upper 90's) but is less short than beeswax, and also tackier. In my days of sculpture classes at the school's foundry, we used pure dark brown microcrystalline as a direct modeling wax for sculptures to be cast by lost wax in bronze. It was the least refined and least expensive, but also the most plastic because the impurities had not been removed by refining and bleaching. Each member in classes bought an 11 pound slab for 2 or 3 bucks (price it now!).

7) Some additional notes about this Yellow Light Wax:
This wax has no dye or colorants added. The color comes from its ingredients alone. The other two modeling waxes ("Blue Glacier", "Green Jade") do have a modicum of dye added (no inorganic pigments). I thought that the 3 grades needed different colors just so they could be easily identified. The color of a wax (or of any other material) can be a factor in how easily the sculpture's shapes can be "seen", e.g. seen for defects in forms. Are there dips or rises where there should be continuation of the current flow of forms? Forms are defined correctly according to their own beginnings, and their progressions to either fullness, concavity, planarity, or unexpected divisions into transformations, or to final completion. Simply put, do forms feel "right" and give a sense of satisfaction? To be able to judge this you need to be able to SEE the sculpture. This is sometimes called "readability". (Freeman Co. especially likes to use the term and judge the degree of readability of it's carving waxes). You might also use "visibility" or "legibility" to suggest the same thing. Visibility has a number of factors, not just color (darker colors are usually more readable, with some exceptions). Degree of translucency/opacity plays a part (more translucency usually means less visibility). The sheen of the surface is a factor. Is it brightly flame polished, matte, semi-matte? If it's a hard wax and has been sanded, what's the "grit" size of the sandpaper?
Visibility is more important with very tiny shapes and right away jewelry comes to mind. The tiny shapes of a custom ring sculpted by a wax carver in hard wax requires good readability. For larger sculptures it matters less. Fine white marble has several things going against it as far as readability. It's the lightest color there is, and it's translucent to a certain depth depending on where is was quarried. But it's a beautiful sculpture material. Fine white alabaster is another stone that's even more translucent than marble. In spite of that, it too is a beautiful sculptural material.
So, getting back to the modeling wax in this listing, Yellow Light: it is not very readable. It and it's two companion waxes are translucent and come in light yellow, light green, and light blue, all lightly tinted colors (the blue is the least translucent and the yellow the most translucent). My reasoning is that some people may like working with a translucent surface (turn it in the light and view it at different angles to "read" it). I think of it as an experiment that's able to be conducted because the waxes start out lightly tinted. Translucency can also be a benefit if you pour the wax into thin sheets on a teflon coated pizza or cookie pan. You will be able to see through the wax, and can lay a drawing under it (treated with a release) and cut out wax sheet shapes. Rio's "Modeler's Pink Wax Sheet" is often used for this purpose (it's also a soft wax at room temperature). If you decide translucency is unacceptable, all you need do is buy some candle dye, (easy to find online), melt your modeling wax in a pan and add dye to suit (don't add crayons, they contain pigments, not dyes). Proceed cautiously, because you won't see the true color of the wax until it's cool. If you would like it pre-colored by us, we will do that for no charge but it would have to be for 4 lb or more in sheet form only and it would be a "rough" color match, not precise. If we don't have enough back stock on hand, there would also be a lead time.

8) If you have just a passing interest in modeling wax and only want to try one hardness, you should choose the middle one, the "Green Jade". If you're more serious or are already experienced with modeling waxes you might want to try the smallest size of all 3 just for testing.
It could be argued that you should avoid melting these down completely a large number of times because each time a wax is melted a certain amount of slightly volatile ingredients will be lost and the wax will change a little in working qualities and important temperature points. But in reality that usually won't be noticed. These particular waxes don't have much that will volatilize at their low MP temperatures (the exception being the hardest "Blue Glacier" which has a relatively high MP compared to the others). Other valid reasons for melting them down completely is to change the shape of the cooled wax. I do that to get thinnish sheets of wax which are easier and quicker to warm up slightly to working temps. Putting a goose necked light with an incandescent bulb pointing down at the sheets is very effective for warming such sheets. An inexpensive clamp-on light works great if you have something to clamp it to. You can change bulb wattages to raise or lower the heat. Another valid reason for completely melting down the wax is letting the particles of dirt that will inevitably collect in the wax over time, to settle down to the bottom of the container (they usually sink, not float). You can then pour off the bulk of the "cleaned" wax and leave the dirt in the container (tip: wipe out the container while it's still warm with paper towels to quickly and easily clean out the crud before it hardens).

9) Note that the measured temperatures from above are all relative to each other when I use my particular method of taking temperatures, which is with a high quality infrared thermometer. I find these to be an extremely convenient way to check temperatures. But, if you have a different way of measuring temps (stainless steel probe connected to a digital readout?), you might find my stated temperatures in (3) above do not agree with yours. My technique (or yours) will be accurate when comparisons are made within a group of objects measured with the same tool and technique, in other words they are accurate relative to each other. If you look at several temperatures by cross comparing them with ones taken by the different method, you might find a correct "conversion factor" between your temperatures and mine, and you can then get a feel for the temperature ranges described for our waxes by doing a rough conversion.

10) Historically, the most information about formulating modeling wax comes from the Italian Renaissance (13th to 17th centuries). It was (and still is) used to make maquettes or "studies" (3-D drawings) for a contemplated sculpture to better see from different vantage points how the forms interact. Then you will be able to change the maquette without too much work to see if the sculpture can be improved.
Beeswax has been the primary modeling wax of choice (and there is evidence going back millennia that it was used as such). It has even in a raw state many of the properties mentioned above (although imperfectly). It would usually be modified with small amounts of other materials like plant or animal oils, fats or "butters".
In the middle ages beeswax based masks of monarchs and well-known personages were made. Wikipedia notes that there "is testimony for it having been used for making masks (particularly death masks) in ancient Rome. The death masks of illustrious ancestors would be displayed by the elite holding the right of "ius imaginem" {correct image}".
"Encaustic", an art which straddles mask making (or wax modeling of any type) and painting, was also used in ancient art. Encaustic has many variations, pigments are mixed with wax or painted on wax.
The wikipedia article on encaustic painting is here { https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting }:
"The oldest surviving encaustic panel paintings are the Romano-Egyptian Fayum mummy portraits from the 1st Century BC....This technique was notably used in the Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt around 100–300 AD, in the Blachernitissa and other early icons...The wax encaustic painting technique was described by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in his Natural History from the 1st Century AD....Encaustic art has seen a resurgence in popularity since the 1990s with people using electric irons, hotplates and heated styli on different surfaces including card, paper and even pottery. The iron makes producing a variety of artistic patterns easier. The medium is not limited to just simple designs; it can be used to create complex paintings, just as in other media such as oil and acrylic. Although technically difficult to master, attractions of this medium for contemporary artists are its dimensional quality and luminous color."
I have never done encaustic, but the "modern-traditional" wax formulas used are beeswax and damar resin (which is actually a tree rosin similar to pine rosin). Sometimes waxes like carnauba, candelilla, or microcrystalline are added. If I did try it, I'm sure I would try non-traditional waxes like our 3 modeling waxes and others sooner or later.-

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Reviews

Reviews (2)

Average:

Sep 1, 2023

Great. Glad to have it.

William

Feb 28, 2022

thank you and fast shipping A+++

Lori Potts