Wax Carving: Part 1

I don't know what I'm doing.

No really.

I have no idea what I am doing at all.

Okay, let me start over.

At May Crown my husbands Knight Sir Thorkil introduced me to Sir Torfin, who is both a Knight and a Laurel (*swoon*). Sir Torfin and I got chatting about his art (casting) and he told me that if I were to carve something out of wax, he would give me some pointers and if possible, eventually cast it.

I was really, really gun-ho about this idea as I had done lost-wax casting in high school, and was excited to revisit it. So I bought the wax he suggested, and the tool, and got to work.

Or, rather, I tried.

Holy crap, this is hard, hard wax, and going to be a lot slower going than I first expected! Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the challenge, but man, I was over estimated my abilities! Go figure!

My plan is by September Crown to have three pieces to present to him: A Pendant, a 3d figure and...something else, I haven't' decided on the third. However at this point, I think I'll be happy if I get one done!

Post under the tag of Wax Casting will document this project.

Without further ado, here is part one of this project:

Step One: Carve a thin slice of wax. This was done with a coping saw.

Step Two: Cut the slice to something closer to the right size:

Step Three: Rough Shape the wax into the pendant shape, in this case, a shield. 

Step Four: Scratch out the design you want to carve, and get to work. 

Thanks for reading! More updates as I get progress! 

Pretty(ish) Letters

I have been avoiding Calligraphy since I got into the SCA.

It's true. I'm not ashamed of it (much), but it is what it is.

I have never felt I had the patience to actually make the letters work, as I am much better at free-form art rather than structured styles.

I couldn't avoid it forever. As an illuminator, it was important for me to understand what I was asking of my "Pocket Scribes" (I love you Yzabels and Helen!), moreover well, anything I was avoiding I needed to face head-on and get over. So I have begun to try and learn the ways of the Calligrapher.

This process has begun with Uncial hand and a very patient best friend. The choice for uncial was that what I would learn from it would eventually transfer to other hands, should I decide to do them (I will). Yzabels was very patient with me, bribing me with Cherry Shasta and Cutthroat Kitchen should I finish a full page.

There we go. This dear readers is my first attempt at calligraphy. 

It was really, really hard, and there are about 6 letters in total that I don't totally hate. But hey, I did it, and I'm one step closer to my goal...