Los Angeles herald., 1890-08-26
10, THE WOODEN INDIAN
THE ART OF MAKING FIGURES FOR
CIGAR STORE SIGNS.


Changed-The Indian Displaced by More
Civilized charlottesville Labor and
Cost of the Statues of Wood.
The tobacconists' figures have undergone
many changes since they first came into
use. They have attained q very respectable
degree of excellence in certain directions
and considerable inventiveness and great
variety of design have been shown in their
production. Most of these figures are made
of wood. Some, however, are of metal
cast in molds. These, of course, are much
more expensive, and the designs are limit
ed in number.
The wooden figures being more within
the reach of most dealers naturally offer a
greater variety in design. The wood used
is generally white pine, which is bought in
logs of various lengths at the spar yards
| The artist begins by making the toughest
| kind of an outline-a mere suggestion of
what the proportions of the figure are to
be. In this heis guided by paper patterns
| The log is blocked out with the ak into
appropriate spaces for the head, the body
down to the waist, the portion from there
to the knee, the rest of the legs (Which are
at once divided) and the feet. In it's pres
emit embryo state the figure to be is not
very apparent to the eye The feeling for
! form in the chopped block is SO very ele-
mentary as to have complete suggestive
ness only for the practiced artist.
HOW THE INDIAN is MADE.
| A hole is now bored into each end of the
prepared log about five inches deep. Into
each of these holes an iron bolt is placed,
the projecting parts of which rests on sup
ports, so that the body hangs free. The
carver now goes from the general to the
particular The surface of the wood soon
becomes Clipped up by the chisel and the
log generally takes on more definite form
Then, when the figure is completely
evolved, the finishing touches are put on
with finer carving tools.
Detached hands and arms are made sep
arately and joined on to the body by
screws. Then the various portions of the
! figure are appropriately painted, the whole
is set upon a stand running on wheels, and
it is ready for delivery. Old figures that
have become scratched and broken that
have split and cracked with the grain, or
are dingy and dirty and need to be fresh
, ened up with new coats of paint, are also
brought to the shop and doctored and
patched up into a respectable semblance
| of newness.
Time changes, and so does the popular
taste. At first the red man ruled the mar
ket almost completely. Then came heavy
sprinkling of other figures-fery Scotch
men, English officers with small fatigue
caps or high bearskins, and heavy swells
of nte-bellum times and the war PERIOD
with marvelously wide pantaloons and
waving mutton chop whiskers, ogled SIM
pering Dolly Vardens, with short cut
skirts, bustles and hats tilted forward over
the eyes. Then came grave Turks, gor-
geous sultanas and columbines with alarm
ingly short skirts. Punch, with rubicund
nose and protuberant chin, was a favorite
figure. There was also the conventional
plantation ''nigger," with striped panta-
looms and great eXpanse of shirt collar.
Few of these old figures are seen nowadays
ORIGINAL DESIGNS.
Meanwhile the spirit of realistic art en-
tered more and more into the work of the
sign sculptors. The wooden Indians grew
better, quite artistic in some instances
Even the half nude was attempted with
| success. In the latter respect the best work
has undoubtedly been eXemplified in the
metal figures of Indians and Pucks. The
''artists," advancing in technique, grew
ambitious; more variety became the watch
word. The dude, who had occupied the
pen of the writer and the pencil of the
artist, was now perpetuated in wood Eff
gies of baseball players gave sign of a pub
lie spirited nature, and there has been quite
an eruption of Pucks, good, bad and exc
cradle. "Vaultin' ambition" strove even
to portraiture.
The price of these figures varies greatly.
You can get a small Indian for SIG, or you
can indulge your artistic taste up to the
tune of 1925. Metal figures run as high as
fo,A %l~4l
simply copied from existing ones the same
design being often repeated. Such work is
exempliied in certain forms and types that
have grown conventional and are familiar
to all. But some dealers, with discrimi-
mating and fastidious tastes or peculiar
hobbies and with the money to indulge
| them, have special figures made to order
One old gentleman in Third avenue, near
Ninth street, had himself cut out in wood
in the uniform of some military company
| to which he belonged. Another gentleman
in Broadway put up figure of Edwin For
rest in Roman garb, redundant of muscle
in front of his store. This figure has since
gone to Philadelphia. Still another, up
town in Tenth avenue, ordered the coun-
terfeit presentment of Bostons shining
light, John L. Sullivan, in his baseball
suit Another Tenth avenue man had an
elephant and the golden calf made for his
two saloons. One western man ordered
! figures Of the Goddess of Liberty and of
Bartholdi's statue somewhat altered from
the original. The carver naturally is glad
to get out of the rut of wearisome conven-
tionality sometimes, and puts his best foot
foremost when filing such orders.
SOME OFT SEEN FIGURES.
But the tobacconjst is not by any means
the only customer that the sculptor in
wood has to supply. Chiropodists want
large white or gilt feet to display before
their doors, glove sellers hang up wooden
gloved hands as signs of their calling, and
livery stable owners call for heads Of
horses. More than that our artist in wood
is at times called upon to exercise his cum
ming in manufacturing wooden hands for
such persons as have had the misfortune
to lose one of those that nature provided
them with. A down town firm puts springs
into these, so that they can be used to some
extent by the wearer.
P. T. Barnum has been supplied with
number of wooden figures which appear
in his parades. They are all life size or
larger, and include Bluebeard, Cinderella,
Mother Goose, Sinbad the Sailor, Red Rid
ing Hood and the Old Woman That Lived
in Shoe. Forepaugh has an equestrian
figure of ST. George and the Dragon. The
figures on Barnum's vans are also carved