limited edition team logo belt buckles part 2

Once the logos have been carved into the wax it's time to flip them over and hollow out the back. I hold them up to a light so as to be able to achieve a consistent thickness throughout. I then use my wax pen to add details like the findings to the back, as well as to clean up any nicks in the wax that have occurred in the carving process. These particular buckles were made as gifts and so I also added the recipients names to the back in the wax before I cast them into jewellers bronze (a mixture of sterling silver and copper). Once cast they still need to be filed, sanded and polished as well as have the moving fastener for attaching a leather belt added and hammered in place. I have added a rich dark patina to give them an aged look and provide a dark contrast into the crevices in the background. It's then time to polish them and add leather for photographing. They are being produced, numbered 1 to 50, in a limited edition series that should soon be available for purchase on the web.

Limited edition team logo belt buckles

I started by modifying these team logos in photoshop. I needed them to be the right dimensions to work as belt buckles, the wings logo is a great example, as normally the wheel is small and most of the logo is a wing. I printed them out to the actual size needed and then set about turning them into 3D waxes for casting. I scribed and then cut the right size and thickness of wax off of my large wax block. The next step was to tape a logo to my piece
of wax and carefully poke holes through the paper into the wax to transfer the logo onto the wax. My hand often cramps up during this step. Once I've poked holes every couple of millimeters around the entire logo, I remove the paper and connect the dots to complete my transfer onto the wax. Then out come the dental tools and so begins the painstaking process of carving my team logo belt buckle in 3D.