Wax templets

i was reading a tip a couple of nights ago about creating your own
stone shape templets for rounds and fancies for wax carving. but i
cant find it, does anyone remember it and could you email it to me.

Thank you
Matthew
@matthew_gross

for many years I have tried to figure out the fastest and cleanest
way to transfer the shape of a stone to wax or metal, but mostly wax.
I don’t know if this has been done before, but I just stumbled on it
last week.

I was at a drafting store and they had these tiny red line grids
papers that are made of plastic. I probably looked at these for ten
minutes thinking how can I use these. the joke was they are only
$1.50 a sheet. for anyone that carves wax they know once you loose
your lines it is very hard to do a symmetrical wax. I bought one
sheet and took it back to my studio. that day I have to carve a
pendent with a burnish set trilliant. as I was scribing the cross
lines it hit me. drill a hole were the grid lines intersect that is
approximately 3/4 the size of the stone and scribe around the shape
of the stone. then cut it out with a scalpel. now you may say this
is double the work but it wasn’t. it went five time faster, because I
had exact grid lines, and I did not have to worry about the stone
moving around on the wax as I scribed it because I was working with a
flat sheet. also I normally scribe the intersection lines, now I just
line up the grid lines with the intersection lines and now wow it
works great. also you now have a stone template that is one inch in
size. this is very useful.

I don’t know how to post this on the site but if you want photos of
the steps email me and I will send it to you.

im sure somebody is reading this and saying “I have been doing that
for years” well sorry to waist your time, im sure somebody will
appreciate this info.

Matthew
@matthew_gross

Hello Matthew,

Don’t you just love those “aha” moments! Thanks for sharing…
these little tips make Orchid the unique resource that it is.

Judy in Kansas