A bombe ring is a classic to make out of wax. Wax makes it easy to get that beautiful curved outer shape of the ring. After you learn how to make the ring, you can finish it however you like. It has a lot of surface area, plenty of space to texture.
This class is perfect if you want to make different shaped rings. You’ll learn how to taper a ring band, make a high dome, remove wax to reduce weight and cost and finish it all in a way that makes it still comfortable to wear.
Techniques covered
- Pierce and size a ring blank
- Filing parallel and how to measure this
- Filing a tapered ring band
- Different ways to check that the taper is even
- Mark and file a domed ring shape out of the flat top
- File a rope pattern
- Use a stanley knife/scalpel to cut a design in the wax
- Remove wax weight from inside the dome to reduce weight and cost
- Wax file finish
- Same ring from an off centre ring tube
Tools and materials
Essential
- Flat ring wax tube with centre hole or wax tube with off centre hole
- Benchpeg
- Jewellers saw and saw blades (regular saw blades work, but skip a tooth or waxblades make piercing easier)
- Hand files 0 and 2 cut (0 cut to do the major work and 2 cut to give it a clean finish). If you have different cuts in your hand files, they’ll do the job just as well. It just takes a bit longer or shorter depending on the cut you have.
- Wax ring sizer
- Ring stick
- Callipers/vernier gauge (dixieme gauge will work as well)
- Dividers
- Ruler
- Needle files
- Small unit scale
- Micro motor/foredom and ball burrs (different sizes, use what you have on hand)
- Permanent marker
Optional
- Wax file (you still need your cut 2 hand file to give your wax a clean finish)
- Dentist scalpel (this is my prefered wax carving tool)
- Wax carving tools
- Stanley knife
What’s included
- 32 page PDF with photos and written instructions. You can download the PDF for easier access.
- 4 instructional videos, around 100 minutes total
- Opportunity to ask questions
- Lifetime access to all the material
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And
Tutor
Hi I’m Sandy. I make all the waxes you see in the videos and photos. But I also write the handout, make the videos and edit them into the tutorial videos. Out of all these, wax carving is definitely my strong point.
I trained at the school of jewellery in Dublin, where I learned wax carving. After finishing my degree, I taught at the school for a year and worked at a jewellery shop as a bench jeweller/sales person.
While travelling through Asia for the past two years (pre pandemic), I took some short courses to expand my skills and rented bench space to keep making jewellery (need a recommendation of jewellery classes in Asia/bench rental? Ask me!) Personal highlight was teaching a wax carving workshop at Lucy Walker in Kuala Lumpur.
Besides my training, I’ve practiced A LOT. Add a healthy dose of stubbornness (I won’t let wax breaking defeat me!) to keep trying until I can make what I set out to make. There’s broken waxes and first attempts in my scrap wax box. I’m proud of those, because practice is the only way to get better.
This class is made with love. I love wax carving and I’m excited to teach you.