I am looking for a hard black wax as a surface covering on cement sculpture. Hard enough to reject fingerprints. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The piece is to be indoors.
Hi, Kristin is right, caranuba wax may be something you are interested in. It is often used for coating outdoor sculptures that are subject to high heat and sunlight, and fingerprints will not show. In the past, I have used clear Sculpt Nouveau Metal Wax (a mixture of microcrystalline wax and caranuba wax), which can be tinted black with dry pigments. I am not familiar with this wax being used for cement (haven’t come across a lot of cement works yet), but I think it could work – just make sure to test a small area first and apply it in thin coats. Keep in mind that the porous nature of cement may make it extremely difficult to fully remove in the future and that if it is applied too thickly it may affect the appearance (with clear wax, areas in which it has been applied too thick appear white or hazy). Best of luck, Alex
Unfortunately we do not yet have experts on our moderating board to cover questions relating to sculpture HOWEVER we still may be able to provide you with some pointers….first, is this sculpture meant to be exhibited indoors or outdoors?
I will take a gamble at this but will also be reaching out to our objects conservators on our board. Carnuba wax is generally considered to be one of the hardest type of wax out there. You can melt it down and add whatever pigments you wish for coloring of course. But as for “rejecting fingerprints” I am not sure it would do the best job….it very well could. The reason why I ask about whether or not the piece is to be exhibited indoors vs outdoors is that cement contains salts (that is why the road can crack during the winter) that may migrate to the surface and cause the wax to appear hazy and blanched. And as cement is porous it will be impossible to completely remove the wax. Again I will reach out to some of our objects conservators on this one.
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