A Brasilian Anyone

I have been trying my hand at repousse as this is an area that I find of interest but my initial results using black pitch were not exactly encouraging. The pitch worked fine as far as producing the formed item, BUT it took ages to prepare the pitch (much heating and black smoke) and when annealing the sheet the fumes from the pitch remaining on the work were not exactly healthy.

  

I looked around for alternatives and initially tried candle wax stiffened with talc (lower melting point and less fumes), this worked to a degree but was on the soft side and lacked the stickiness to hold the sheet.  
   
In Brasil where I am now living I came by chance  upon the ideal medium , namely depilation wax. The wax consists of beeswax and resin (which I believe is shellac), which is fairly much the same as one I found a French site. It melts easily and quickly, less than 100degC and the vapours when annealing are easier to get along with than the black pitch. I use a hair dryer to heat the wax and sheet and this only takes a few minutes. The wax initially was on the brittle side, an addition of small amount of olive oil gave me just the right hardness. 

This is the latest ring that I have designed using this wax.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/546413367261943736/

Before committing a design to silver I make a trial of the design using sheet from aluminium cans, these are some ideas I am considering.

The pitch bowl I use is a small stainless steel cereal bowl, and this sits on a small sand bag. The punches are ones I have made myself using budget price center punches from discount tool stores. The punches were initially rough ground using a small bench grinder, final shaping being done with a small hand held rotary tool and diamond files. For final finishing oil stones and wet n dry paper gave an acceptable result. 
  
I have yet to discover if silver steel (drill rod in USA) is available here in Brasil or a stockist of any suitable steels with a carbon content around 0.7% -1.0% for making further punches, I just have to persevere and improve my Portuguese. I will post details on my punch making efforts at a later date.

The beauty treatment.