As I’m currently on holidays I thought I would finally get back into casting. I have had some difficulty with the latest silicon RTV that I purchased and am contemplating finding out if I can send it back and trade it for the usual stuff. But in the meantime, my latest project requires some waxes being made so that I can produce a larger project from the smaller objects. This was proving difficult as the modelling wax I use isn’t great for making the silicon moulds from, but Bee’s wax which is great is a little too hard and not so easy to model.

The solution seems to be a 4-1 mix of bee’s wax to modelling wax. It produces a wax that is not as brittle once set and can be removed from a mould without cracking or breaking. The wax ends up a nice fleshy pink colour due to the red modelling wax. It also has a nice modelling quality, being sturdy enough to maintain its shape though flexible enough to model with some great detail.  The awesome thing is it really seems to have the best of both of the waxes in the sense that the bee’s wax stands up better to ambient heat whilst the modelling wax is easy to manipulate.  I look forward to experimenting further with this combination.

I have also managed to salvage a mould that I had previously thought lost.  The M4470 compound I’m using seems rather brittle but sticks to itself really well.  This means that if you haven’t used enough mould release the mould tends to rip and crumble rather than come apart nicely.  This is fine for simple 2 sided tokens and stuff, but when moulding more complicated shapes it makes it difficult to remove the moulded material without damaging it or the mould itself (usually the latter).