Going to cast an item… The finished item will have a very thin
sheet of gold… the wax sheets that I would normally use are to
thick… looking for a substitute for the ‘wax’ sheet… the wax
pattern will primarily be made up of wax with ‘some material’ that
can be included to the rest of the wax pattern (suck into it)…
Considerations are; Plastic credit card material (will wax stick to
it?), thin cardboard (same question?), Other ideas please…thanks,
Jim
Hi Jim,
sometimes when I need a thinner piece of sheet wax I’ll roll it out
using a round steel block on a smooth surface - like rolling dough
out with a rolling pin.
Miche
http://www.sumiche.com
Back when I first started casting and model-making years ago I got a
bit creative with modeling materials. I tried styrene plastics, bugs,
organic materials and various other alternatives to wax with success.
One day I had an inspiration: balsa wood!
I quickly carved out a basic pendant shape with bezel to be added
later, sprued it and invested it. Only after I poured and quenched
the silver did I remember that balsa is mostly air. That makes it
lightweight and functional for raft and model airplane construction
but a disaster for jewelry models. Vacuuming the investment pulled
the air out of the wood and left the final casting with more warts
than an adolescent toad.
Ah well, the creative path is not without certain dead ends.
Sometimes it reminds me of those garden mazes that can be
momentarily frustrating while providing great exhilaration and
excitement along the way.
Rick Martin
www.artcutgems.com
Jim,
There are limits on how thin you can cast with a good success ratio.
Depends on the area and geometry. .25mm for a few square mm might
work, something the size of a post card and I’d worry about 1mm
(allot)
Burning out your credit cards might be a good idea for other reasons
:-), cardboard or any thing porous just a bad idea, think about
investing a sponge. Keep looking, I know that I have worked with .5mm
wax sheet (and it was not fun or I would have long ago forgotten the
experience.)
jeffD
PS: wax will stick to credit cards, so will slimy bankers 
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand