Teaching jewellery at South Hill Park : Wax Carving
Hi there! Hope you are well and enjoying Spring. It’s been a little slow to warm up here in the UK but everything looks so green and lush.
I’ve been a little quiet on the blog as I started teaching jewellery classes at South Hill Park arts centre in January. I love teaching. I taught art for the last 12 years, firstly in schools and later alongside running my jewellery business. Last year I decided to try to find some jewellery teaching opportunities. This role came up at the end of 2022 and I grabbed it with both hands! It was a little nerve-racking to start, but new challenges are a good thing. I’m enjoying it a lot.
For the first term I thought I would stick to my specialist area and plan a wax carving project. I brought in all my favourite tools and we tried them out, experimenting and testing out of the qualities of wax as a material. It’s a lovely way to carve or sculpt organic pieces, or to carve details intricately.
Some samples I made for class using hard wax (blue) and soft wax (pink and red)
I sometimes get messages asking how to get started with wax carving, so if you’re interested I recommend wax carving tools by Kate Wolf, she’s a brilliant jeweller and carver based in Maine in the US (she has a few Youtube video demonstrations which are excellent, take a look). Her tools are wonderful to work with, as is her wax which is has a good flexibility and carves beautifully.
Another technique some students tried is the casting-in-place technique (where stones are cast in metal, not set traditionally). It’s a technique I’d read about but hadn’t tried myself before, so I gave it a try too, see my little experiment below. The good thing about teaching is the chance to try new things and not just stick to what I know- which is fun! For those of you who want to know about casting stones in place, check out this article, it’s very interesting.
A cast in place experiment I tried (the stones are cast directly into the metal, not set) The stones stayed in place and didn’t crack! The texture is inspired by split gill fungi. I might make this into a little ear stud.
Take a look at some of the lovely pieces that students carved in wax, they are wonderful and the styles are so creative and varied:
This was made by Dana Kidson, a very talented jeweller- take a look at her Instagram, her work is wonderful! Isn’t this ring glorious? It’s like modern sculpture in miniature form. The soft subtle textures and just lovely.
A close up of Dana’s ring.
These beautiful rings were made by Jean Aish. Jean carved pieces that are wonderfully organic and experimental. The rubies were cast in place. It was very exciting seeing how they turned out.
Take a look at the level of detail on this wax! Rachel Ford hand carved this so carefully and intricately. The details are beautiful and it’s a wonderful design. It is going to look amazing cast in silver.
Hope you enjoyed reading about wax carving and seeing these fabulous pieces made by Dana, Jean and Rachel. If you’re interested in learning jewellery and silversmithing at South Hill Park take a look at the information on courses. Next term starts in September, you can enrol from the first week of July: https://www.southhillpark.org.uk/take-part/courses/?_courses_categories=shpevent_visual_arts_jewellery The classes are also taught by Grant Forsyth and Charlotte Jones, both brilliant jewellers and tutors.
This term I’ve planned some projects inspired by texturing. And we are doing a little bit of basic enamelling too. I’ll share more photos of student work again soon.
Samples for class- texturing with the rolling mill, reticulation, and etching.