San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-02-21
Through the Boiling Pot the Mold and
the Eye and Hair Artists.

A smiling young lady seated at piano in
large show window on State street at
tracted crowds last week. She was pretty
enough to catch the masculine eye and suffi
GENTLY well dressed to hold the feminine
critics. But, despite the constant scrutiny
Of the ever changing crowd, the young lady
never changed her position The smile that
parted her lips did not change, her fingers.
raised an inch above the piano, never struck
them once-all for the best of reasons. She
wasn't a real young lady-though she looked
it, especially in the gaSlight-but only a wax
one. A young man curious to know some
thing of the method of her construction
climbed up to the top story of the Eden Musee
in company with the superintendent, emerg
ing into a small room in the rear of the
building Two or three men were at work,
one stirring a steaming mixture in an iron
pot over an oil stove. another daubing plaster
over mold. Headless cOrpses were every
where. They stood on platforms, under
meath tables and in corners In a small ante
room a whole collection was piled up The
limbs of some were contOrted and bent as
though in awful agony The active young
superintendent opened boxes and cupboards
and drew out heads of men and women, old
and young, beautiful and ugly, some without
eyes or hair, others looking startlingy real
From another set of drawers he pulled dozens
of hands and laid them beside the heads
There" said he 'are all the parts of an
image which are made out of wax. There is
no such thing as a wax figure. The figures
the torsos-are made out of papier mache.
A wax torso, even when it is lined with an
iron framework, does not give a satisfactory
ba IF 1oria
mache bodies is precisely that of the heads
and hands"
"And what is that?"
"A work that requires seven persons to
complete. The first step is to make minia
ture model in clay Of the figure or group that
is to be represented. From it we get some
idea of the effect When all details are de
cided upon the sculptor models the figure
life size in clay, the same as would be done
if it were to be chiseled in marble or cast in
bronze. The hands are omitted They are
modelled from life always Next the molder
prepares plaster paris cast in sections from
the model, and into this the wax is poured bv
the waxworker. If the result does not sat
isfy the sculptor the head is remelted No
attempt is ever made to change head The
mold is simply broken up and a new model
made. The head goes next to a woman, who
inserts the hair, eyebrows, evelashes, and
beard. A little instrument with two or three
sharp needle points is used for this. She
works rapidly, more so than any of the 9th
ers The sculptor, after the glass eyes ar
put into the socket then takes the head ar
finishes it. Its color is pale pink, and h
gives it the hue of the human face, and b.
various means makes its surface look Hk
skin Meanwhile the coStumer has been e
work dressing the torso and the carpentc
fixing it uDon a pedestal The head al,
hands are joined to it and it is ready for ez
hibition."
How long does all this taker
1T depends upon the sculptor entirely