larryfroot
10-09-2007, 03:24 PM
If anyone works with pliable or soft modelling materials then this simple and inexpensive tool is the bees knees. Fettling tools can mean a range of various tools, to be honest. 'Fettling' is the removal of 'seams' where a a raised line is visible when clay is taken out of a multi-piece mould. The raised line is simply where the slip, liquid clay, has seeped into the seam a little.
The fettling tool I use (for nearly everything when it comes to sculpting detail and or bas relief in wax) comes from MOD EDIT - NO ADVERTISING YET! It has two tools one either end of wooden handle. One end is like an arrow, and I have yet to find a use for it in the work I do. The other end however is a very different beast :).
It is shaped like a crescent moon and tapers into a point. Naturally enough it is very good at inscribing lines etc as the curve means the swarf (waste material) is rmoved by coming into contact with the curvature of the tool itself as a long thin circular length of the (in my case) wax (I call this technique a). So it actually (mostly) cuts the wax rather than displace it, although some displacement is unavoidable. This is as two very slightly raised lines either side of the cut. However by holding the tool flat against the work and gently pulling in the direction of the line one has cut, this can be removed with ease.I call this technique b. I usually pop the wax into a freezer for ten minutes or so before this part of the gig. It means that the very fine swarf resulting from technique b can be blown away from the wax surface, a bonus as normally wax is slightly tacky.
And the tool can be used to remove material from difficult nooks and crannies, to flatten areas, to inscribe lines as one goes along...I use this tool for ninety percent of the time I am working on wax...mind you my work is detailed. For larger pieces I would switch to loop tools used by potters and heated slighty with a spirit lamp for ease of use working with wax - especially removing sizeable portions of wax in one go.
The materials one could try it on (and this is off the top of my head, and as I haven't used it on all of the following materials, I am writing a BIG disclaimer at this juncture!) are:
Super Sculpey
Fimo
Wax
Clays
Das Pronto
Chavant
A very inexpensive but utterly invaluable tool for the types of work given.
The fettling tool I use (for nearly everything when it comes to sculpting detail and or bas relief in wax) comes from MOD EDIT - NO ADVERTISING YET! It has two tools one either end of wooden handle. One end is like an arrow, and I have yet to find a use for it in the work I do. The other end however is a very different beast :).
It is shaped like a crescent moon and tapers into a point. Naturally enough it is very good at inscribing lines etc as the curve means the swarf (waste material) is rmoved by coming into contact with the curvature of the tool itself as a long thin circular length of the (in my case) wax (I call this technique a). So it actually (mostly) cuts the wax rather than displace it, although some displacement is unavoidable. This is as two very slightly raised lines either side of the cut. However by holding the tool flat against the work and gently pulling in the direction of the line one has cut, this can be removed with ease.I call this technique b. I usually pop the wax into a freezer for ten minutes or so before this part of the gig. It means that the very fine swarf resulting from technique b can be blown away from the wax surface, a bonus as normally wax is slightly tacky.
And the tool can be used to remove material from difficult nooks and crannies, to flatten areas, to inscribe lines as one goes along...I use this tool for ninety percent of the time I am working on wax...mind you my work is detailed. For larger pieces I would switch to loop tools used by potters and heated slighty with a spirit lamp for ease of use working with wax - especially removing sizeable portions of wax in one go.
The materials one could try it on (and this is off the top of my head, and as I haven't used it on all of the following materials, I am writing a BIG disclaimer at this juncture!) are:
Super Sculpey
Fimo
Wax
Clays
Das Pronto
Chavant
A very inexpensive but utterly invaluable tool for the types of work given.