FreeShip- Sculptor's Modeling Wax, Medium Soft (Specialty Wax), Blue Glacier- (Prompt rebate on orders with 3 or more FreeShip items!)

CLICK THE "LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS ITEM" LINK JUST BELOW TO READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION FOR THIS ITEM.
*************************************************************
PROMPT REBATE ON ORDERS WITH 3 OR MORE “FreeShip” ITEMS! WANT TO KNOW YOUR TOTAL REBATE BEFORE PURCHASE? CONTACT US!

----> 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

Blue Glacier 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 = Blue Glacier has the most unique qualities of the 3
1 = General: introduction; hardest of the 3, higher temp range
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) This "Blue Glacier" wax has unusual qualities compared to the other 2 waxes. It is also a wax which can be modified to alter some of those unique properties to suit your needs. When cool it is the hardest of the 3 waxes, and in general it is the least malleable, but is quite workable in sheets at very specific temps. For more, see below.

1) This is the listing for "Blue Glacier Modeling Wax", which is somewhat harder than a standard modeling wax, workable in the 90's (90 to 100 F). 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 "Blue Glacier" wax, which is the hardest/higher temperature of the modeling waxes. This is a light blue color.
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 Blue Glacier 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.
Note also that this is not intended as a casting wax.
Blue Glacier 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). Blue Glacier is an especially good candidate for this technique since thin sheets of it at working temps of 90 to 100 F are pliable and have good strength at this relatively higher working temperature (compared to Yellow Light and Green Jade). When the sheet walls cool they will be hard, inflexible, and pretty strong, especially if they are curved and rounded. Flat sheets assembled will be less strong. Other core methods can use 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 fairly 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 highest temperature range of the 3 modeling waxes. It's not flexible at 70 F and thinner sections will break. It's somewhat flexible at 80 F but if bent too much it will break. About 85 F is the lowest flexibility point. It's the least tacky of the 3 waxes up to 90 F, but becomes just about as tacky as the other 2 in its working temp range of 90 to 100 F. It becomes quite tacky and very soft much above that. Above 110 F and it becomes a paste. It has the least plasticity of the 3 modeling waxes, even within its working temperature. It's pretty hard at ambient temps up to 75 F. If working with sheets (around 1/4" thick) with the fingers at room temperatures, it will warm up reasonably fast with your body heat to about 85 F, which is where it becomes fairly flexible (but not fully until it's about 90 F).
--{ NOTE: adding 1% to 5% of vaseline (by weight or volume) will increase plasticity. Oddly, at 5% vaseline the working temperature is effectively raised to 110 F, when it will become quite soft but still self-cohesive, with reduced tackiness. Working it that high will only transfer a thin layer of wax to the fingers. Above that will soften it too much. At 115 to 120 F it will become a soft paste but will not liquify. You may want to experiment with adding more vaseline to see if tackiness is reduced enough and plasticity increased, to produce a soft modeling wax that is "slick" (doesn't stick to anything and is actually "slippery", similar to Amaco's "Flex Wax"}
--Without vaseline (or any other additives), it will just begin to melt with a heat gun held at 8" above it and swirled around at about 120 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 low 200's F (it is still thickly flowable around 165 to 170 F). Going back the other way, from a liquid to a solid, it will just begin to "sort of" congeal about 110 to 115 F. This would be called it's congealing point or "liquidus" point if it had a convincing congealing point (the point (or range) above which it's completely liquid). But it does not have a definitive liquidus point. It simply goes from a low viscosity liquid to a higher viscosity liquid to a very soft (but flowable) paste to a higher viscosity paste to a medium paste to a thick paste and finally to its working temperature (between 90 to 100 F). Below that and it slowly solidifies until it's a non-flexible solid at room temps in the low to mid 70's and fairly hard (it "clunks" when you hit a surface with it; clunk it too hard and it will break).
--Another of the oddities of this wax is that it has a VERY wide "paste range". It's still thickly flowable at 170 F and becomes gradually non-flowable around 150 to 155 F when it becomes a soft paste. It becomes a thick paste gradually down to about 110 F. So, it's a soft to thick paste from about 155 to 110 F. That's a range of 45 F.
--Yet another oddity of this wax is how slowly it cools down (because it doesn't conduct heat well). It could be worked as a paste with a painter's palette knife for at least 15 minutes (depending on the ambient temperature). The temperatures between the solidus (about 120 F) and liquidus points ("sort of" about 110 F), when a mixture is part solid and part liquid is called its "melting range" (in this case, using the not-quite-correct liquidus point of 110 F the melting range is 10 F).
--Another oddity, and the problem with the melting range of this wax (120 - 110 = 10 F) is that there's not a true congealing point. Intuitively, and more accurately, the melting range for this wax is about 170 to 110 F (about 60 F melting range). That's more than twice as wide as the other 2 modeling waxes melting ranges. 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.
--This Blue Glacier wax is definitely a mixture of differing ingredients with quite different melting points. A note on the "congealing temperature": it's usually much easier to determine just by visual observation than finding an accurate melting temperature. That is, it's USUALLY easier. This wax doesn't have an obvious congealing 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.
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) Blue Glacier Wax in its working temperature range, has similar plasticity compared to most modeling waxes on the market (which to me is just adequate, not great), but not nearly as plastic as the other two in this series, Yellow Light and Green Jade.
Some, but not all of the following manipulations will give satisfying results (and if modified with vaseline (see (3), above), will improve results related to plasticity):
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. I believe this wax would be a good candidate for working with metal tools such as high carbon steel or 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". Blue Glacier responds very well to this tool. It has loops of resistance wire which heat 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 at working temps (although modification with vaseline reduces this tackiness, see (3) above. At the highest working temps it joins to itself pretty well. Any modeling wax or clay will not bond to itself perfectly by just pressing 2 pieces together, but this will hold together well 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. For Blue Glacier modeling wax, a very thin coating of vaseline is a good happy medium. It will combine with the wax after a while but will not have such a deleterious effect in small amounts (see (3) above).

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). Blue Glacier Modeling Wax is pretty close to both beeswax and microcrystalline in working temperature ranges. It's closer to microcrystalline in tackiness and workability when micro gets up to working temps. At room temps (high 60's to low 70's F) all 3 waxes, Blue Glacier, Beeswax, and microcrystalline, feel almost identical in hardness. Blue Glacier and Microcrystalline have some flexibility at ambient temps, with Blue Glacier having an edge over most microcrystallines. I have several types of microcrystalline and beeswax, and one of the microcrystallines has better flexibility at ambient temps than the others. So, it and Blue Glacier are about the same in flex at room 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 Blue Glacier Wax:
This wax has a small amount 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, Blue Glacier: 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 2 Kg 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 might want to 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.-

=======================================================================

Reviews

Reviews (2)

Average:

Sep 1, 2023

Great. Glad to have it.

William

Mar 27, 2021

jill mcdonald