Art of Wax
by Elsa Tierney
A Guide to Carving and Modelling with Wax
One of the oldest mediums for making art, wax takes on a variety of forms and characteristics and its accessibility has made it a popular material to work with in art and jewellery making. Art of Wax focuses on the material itself, breaking boundaries between different sculptural art practices to inform and inspire creative ways of working. With demonstrations, technical guidance and references to artisans who have used wax across cultures throughout history, it is a celebration of wax and the wonderful results it can produce.
By Elsa Tierney with contributions from Sarah Davis and Robert Worley.
“Matter must continue its natural life when modified by the hand of the sculptor.”
— Constantin Brâncusi
About the Artists
Elsa Tierney
Elsa trained in jewellery making with a degree in silversmithing and fine art at Sir John Cass & Guildhall University. She incorporates her sculptural skills and combines them with traditional methods of jewellery making. She teaches wax carving at the Goldsmiths Centre and has taught wax carving at the Ayokin School in Tokyo. She also teaches private one-to-one classes in her East London studio and has presented an online Domestika course on Wax Carving Techniques for Jewellery Design. She exhibits her work at the international Goldsmiths Fair and has won gold, silver and bronze awards at the Goldsmiths Crafts and Design awards. In 2023 she was awarded a Goldsmiths Catalyst grant to travel to Japan to learn the technique of Mitsuro Hikime at the Tomoyasu School in Tokyo.
Sarah Davis
In 2012 Sarah Davis graduated from Chelsea College of Art with a BA in Fine Art. She returned to education in 2015 to study woodcarving and gilding at the City & Guilds of London Art School, where she now teaches the woodcarving and conservation BA respectively. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally, most recent examples include Centuries in the Making at Bohams, New Bond Street & Compton Verney and Warwickshire. Her work as a wax modeller has twice been celebrated at the prestigious Goldsmith Craft and Design awards (2021 and 2023). Davis is also an active maker of art medals, having been the British Art medal society’s new medallist for 2022.
Robert Worley
Robert has always had a strong interest in teaching and learning techniques, as well as learning through teaching. He has previously worked on public and community arts projects in the UK, Italy, Romania and the Czech Republic. He currently teaches sculpture at Morley College, Art Academy London, and the London Sculpture Workshop. He is an MA Sculpture graduate of the Royal College of Art, and an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors (MRSS). In 2001 he received a Gilbert Bayes Award for early career sculptors and in 2009 won the RSS ‘First Plinth’ Sculpture Award for his artwork ‘Avatar’.
