Wax carving jewellery at home

A question I'm often asked after people have attended one of my Make a Ring classes is “How can I do more of this at home?” If you’ve ever spent any time using jewellers wax then you’ll know that it’s a really fun and rewarding material to work with and can be quite addictive! Luckily, it is a technique that you can easily try on your own without the need for too many expensive tools.

This blog post is for anyone that’s already done some wax carving and is interested in learning more. It isn’t designed to be a guide to the process itself (you’ll have to come to one of my classes for that!), but it will give you an overview of some of the equipment it’s worth investing in as well as how to go about getting your final piece cast and cleaned up.

Wax carving jewellery kits

If you want to buy an off the shelf kit for home use then Cooksongold is a good place to look. It has a fairly comprehensive wax carving kit (see pic above) for around £80 which has some good basic tools you'll need to get started. It does have its limitations however - the files aren't great and you may not find the slabs very useful (depending on what you want to make), so you could look at putting together a kit of your own. Here's what I'd suggest including:

If you’re interested in making rings then it’s worth buying couple of different shaped wax tubes – one D shaped and one round with a centred or off centre hole to play around with. Go for the blue wax when you’re starting out as it’s a bit more forgiving and less likely to break.

Choosing your essential wax carving tools

Wax saw blades and a frame saw are essential for cutting out your ring blanks. You can pick up an adjustable jewellers saw from