I’ve been working on woven designs and looking for a medium that I
can weave and then burn out for casting. I’ve had some success with
monofilament of various thicknesses, but the burnout has proven so
tricky that I’ve resorted to making making molds of my plastic wires
and shooting waxes just to get one in metal. When I heard about Red
Matt Wax I thought my problems were solved, but it’s nearly
impossible to get more than a foot of consistent wax wire from it,
unless it’s hair thin.
Has anyone else worked with this stuff, and can anyone extrude it
into wire of various guages? If it’s for weaving, why not sell it as
wire instead of glue gun sticks?
BTW I love the Prolong-knot bracelet with a Turk’s-head in it,
Loren! Nice One
I wish they would sell it as wires. (Are you listening Rio??) It’s
the best thing I’ve ever found for weaving wax, but my best length of
semi-equal size tends to be about 2 feet at a go. My trick, as much
as there is one, is to shoot gently from about 2 feet above a marble
countertop, and just keep shooting for a while. Eventually, you end
up with enough similar strands to be able to do something useful.
If it were available in uniform strands, It’d probably sell really
well. It’s very, very good for weaving. (Of course, it’s not the
easiest to join/melt to anything else, but nothing’s free.)
Well, it certainly is strong. I extrude strands and use them for
prongs, etc. But as far as braiding or weaving, it’s been very
frustrating for me. As Alberic said, it’s almost impossible to join
it to anything else, and that includes itself. When I’ve tried
weaving it, I do fine until it’s time to adhere the strands together
at the end of the piece. It springs free and unbraids as easily as it
braids.
My trick for joining it (as much as I have one) is to melt it -into-
a block of sprue wax. Don’t try to actually get the two waxes to melt
into each other, just bury the red wax wire inside the body of the
sprue wax form. Failing that, I seem to remember having had decent
luck once with superglue to hold it in place while I waxed other
things around it. (I haven’t used it in several years.) Superglue
works by absorbing water, so you’ll have to breathe on it a couple of
times to allow the water from your breath to set it.
It’ll be handy to have precise prong sizes, and the ball & socket
really looks cool! I’ve not really worked with Ferris Purple much,
and I’ve only carved Blue. Do they melt at high temps? I like my
battery hot pen; can I use it to join these to other peices. I
usually shoot molds with injection wax, the build on that.
How about melting carving (or Red Matt) wax in an injector? Some
folks have mentioned they do this. I’d like to get another injector,
so I can dedicate one to production and use the other to play. Is it
worth it? What should I watch out for?
Sorry I missed y’all in Tucson & thanks Hanuman for your help.