"Ferris, File A-Wax" Channel Setting carving => 21 photos

  This wax carving wax was made by "Ferris, File-A-Wax". I don't advertise companies often, but here is an exception. This filing wax is the epitome of a 'strong and durable' wax.

 What makes this wax 'strong and durable' is that this composition of materials is a favourite with my jewellery friends.

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  After the 'rough sawing' of the wax is used here we must decide how wide to make the wax 'measured in millimetres'. It is now necessary to smooth the sides using different grits of files.

  This specific trimming is to gently smooth the outside edge of the wax tube.

  I'm aiming to now remove any rough saw-blade cuts. Not to mention having the edge of the wax supplied with parallel sides. To me, this is so very important.

 Has the new wax ring been given the correct finger size? It's advisable to make changes NOW before forging ahead and taking a chance afterwards.

 

 In using a pair of dividers 'gently' scribe where the centre of the channel line will be situated. Without a 'scribed line' you might have a random series of holes serving no use for you.

 

  Decide exactly where your channel will be located & drilled. This is your 'moment of truth'.

  In this cellophane package are your gemstones. Remove them and pick which stones which are uniform in colour and size.

 Your channel 'opening' must not be the same size as the stones. I use a Triangular file to smooth the edges of the channel wall.

 Now comes the decisions on how deep will the channel be? The next question will be how will this channel be created?

  

 I prefer to prepare the depth with a 'separating disk' and cut deep into the wax. I could use a bur that cuts deep for me, the choice is yours to which is best for you.

 Remember that the channel must be exactly 75% of the diameter of the stones.

  Place all of the stones which you just chose on top of the channel. With this procedure, you can only now decide where each stone will lay.

 SPACING? This might be a problem for some folks, but do you want every stone touching, or should there be a space in between? You can decide this 'here & now'.

 

 How do you do the spacing on a wax form? This answer is not written into any Rule Book, but a simple process of aligning where the stones will lay.

 I will invert every stone Culet pointing up, as this will give me positioning on the wax. If I kept the stone in the usual manner, I wouldn't know where the Culet would be.

 On the side of the channel, I will very 'gently & lightly' scribe where every stone will be.

 (Sorry, I didn't take a photo of this 'spacing' process when I created this portfolio of pictures 4 years ago. I didn't even think of it until a few moments ago.)