Beeswax clay update + music

Hi folks,

Big update today-

After toiling for several weeks trying to design my own  beeswax-based modeling clay from scratch, there was success! The clay is very similar to Van Aken, although it contains no petroleum products. The exact ingredients I won't divulge, in case there is interest in bringing this clay to market- although, I have to bow down to Van Aken International's expertise. At this point, my clay doesn't improve with age, but it is richly pigmented and the colors stay in the clay.

Also figured out how to modify Van Aken Claytoons to be very close to the consistency of Pongo. That took a bit of experimentation, but I was amazed at how close it was.

In the process of discovery, I'm finding that crumbly clay generally does not happen because there is too much of a harder wax component, but because there is too much powder. This is an old hypothesis, but the latest batch finally theorized it. Two ways you can tell if the formula will be crumbly while still in the pot- it's hard to melt and just drips down in waves like a candle, or...it is very thick at a higher temperature. Beeswax will be thinner the hotter it is, so this is a good way to tell when you've put too much powder in the clay.

I used to like to start with the wet ingredients first and then add the hard stuff, but I found that gets all over your hands and sticks like glue and is unpleasant. Now I start with the wax and powder, because those are the two most important constituents- without wax, the clay can not hold shape, and without powder it does not have any body, opacity, or the ability to knead it without it sticking to your hands.

I'm not quite ready to market the clay but getting pretty close...At this point it is having trouble flexing without breaking, so I think It needs more of the grease I'm using. I've noticed that too much of this sort of grease does not necessarily make the clay really sticky. Too much oil, on the other hand... Oh, man. Its stickiness becomes like microscopic pieces of double sided tape. Eugh!

One thing I should add is that the beeswax does not just come in one grade, so any type you get is going to yield a harder or softer (and differently proportioned formula). The grade I'm now using is pharmaceutical USP bleached white beeswax. It's the type used in lip balms. You may have to make a few phone calls to find it... Like the other ingredients in this stuff, no one told me what to use and I had to figure it all out.

Alright, so that's the clay...

Lately I've been having a blast getting back into doing my second love, which is music. My quality of life drastically changed when I bought the light version of FL Studio. It just transformed everything about the way I record and the ease of it all, as well as put it right on the beat every time. Sync is super important when recording and editing a recording session; having anything come in too early or late on the drum tracks will break the whole song. On guitar, however, you can get away with being a little early or late (and sometimes you will have to, if the part you're doing will loop back around and start over again).

Acid Music studio has a cool feature I don't remember in older versions, where you can use the mouse wheel to magnify the part of the track you're working on. I just plop my cursor down where the track should begin and maybe place a marker there, then drag the end of the track until the start of the waveform lines up with the edge of the marker. In this way, it becomes possible to record directly from the drum machine using the headphone output and re-looping those files once in the computer. In my experience, it always sounds a little better on the drum machine though. I wish there were some way to create a loop and then bring it in via USB, but alas there is no USB jack on this DM. That's not a dealbreaker, and there's probably one on the higher end units. I'm poor, so I just use whatever I can afford.

One thing I'd like to be able to do is program FL Studio through the drum machine, using it as a MIDI trigger. Have not figured out how to do that yet... It would save time because of the direct connectivity and interaction with FL.

I'll leave you with this song I composed the other day while digging through a box of old lyrics.

Artist: Sunday Friend 
Song: Something Fell 
Album: Love Cycle Complete


It's the prequel to "All Is Well", I suppose you could say, which is on another lyric sheet I need to blow the dust off of. Both are in 3/4, which creates a sort of jaunty, folksy feel to the rhythm.

A pro studio could record and mix it better, but I'm pretty happy with the sounds I'm getting. Never thought I'd enjoy singing harmonies so much!
Also got the guitar cleaned and restrung, and found that if you layer a bunch of different versions of an amp simulator plugin, you can make the guitar sound like it's going through stacks. Using the electric guitar for the bass lines is also improved with an amp simulator and some EQ, but I've found you can even create a vocal mic placement effect by running the mic through the same plugin, with overdrive turned almost all the way down. Pretty nifty!

Because of a super wonderful friend I now have my own website, something I've been wanting for a long time (thank you! Best present ever! :)