Yes, this is a black rose made with wax. It's my first attempt at making a big sheet-wax rose. It's pretty realistic looking in its current wax form it actually looks like a corsage.
Inspired by Philip Treacy's Rose hat which appeared recently on Project Runway, I want to make a large full bloom rose bracelet. The flower is made of sheet wax, and the band will be in the form of a rose stem with one thorn. The final piece will be cast in sterling silver with oxidation to mimick blackness of the real rose.
Working with sheet-wax is not that easy. It softens with human body heat and hardens in room temperature. With uneven temperature on the same sheet, the wax is easy to crack or form fold line.
The one I have is 20G (over 1mm thick). To create the pedals with the natural edges, I mold the wax into thinner layers. The problem however, is that when wax model is thinner than 1mm, it's hard for precious metal to form successfully during the casting process.
Another problem is that the piece will become heavy with metal. This flower is under 2 inches wide in diameter and about 1 inch tall. As it is, the bracelet in sterling silver will weigh over 50grams! Of course, that also means it will be an expensive piece! But then again, what's a bit of weight on your wrist for a really beautiful piece of statement jewelry ;)
Well, we'll see if I can overcome these issues somehow. I'm still working on it and I'm hoping to finish it next week. Meanwhile, a collection featuring small roses are being done. I'll see how my baby looks like on Thur and if it works out, I'll update you with the picture of both the wax and metal pieces in the coming post!
The new precious metal pieces will be available for purchase at a new Etsy store I'm opening. More info to come so stay tune!
No comments:
Post a Comment