With Christmas on the way I thought it would be interesting to briefly go over working in formulated wax, which is what most professional toy sculptors work in. Wax.

Working with wax of course involves tools, and they are not the kind most may be familiar with. The most notable tool is the wax pen which I will get into more after a brief introduction to toy wax and how it is used.

Many professional commercial sculptors prefer to work with hard clays and waxes because of their ability to hold sharp, crisp and exacting detail. For instance, the artists who create the relief sculptures we see on coins use extremely hard Chavant© clays to create their masterpieces.

Cast metal sculptors also often use wax or wax-based clays to do their work because once it is molded they can heat the hard plaster molds and pour out the original sculpture as a liquid, leaving behind a pristine mold ready for metal. This process is known as the "lost wax" process.