The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-10-19
HOW A WAX FIGURE is MADE.
The Intelligence That Goes to Coloring 1t.
and Posing 1t, snd Providing 1t With
Clothes.-What Becomes of 1t Finally.
New York Sun. /

New York SUM-
Nearly every one has at some time
seen collection of good wax works;
perhaps at the Eden Musee in New York,
or at Nine. Tussaud's in London, or in
the Musee Grevin in Paris. Yet to how
many has it occurred that the making
of these figures requires very large
| amount of artistic skill? The process of
making wax figures is much more COM
plicated than one would at first sight
imagine. Take, for instance, the group
of Lincoln liberating tho negroes. Sup
pose such group has been decided upon
and the general arrangement elaborated,
perhaps with the aid of some pencil
sketches. Then the first step is to mode
the figures in clay, which is very neces
sary in order that the presence of the
body may be felt under the clothes,
which otherwise-as in poor wax works
wrinkle and flap around the body in a
most unnatural way. The first-class mu
scum keeps regular sculptor, usually a
and is kept busy enough in large and
well-appointed studio. When he has
finished his figure-Abeaham Lincoln, in
this case-in clay, a plaster mould is
made. Then it is ready to be repro
duced in wax, that is, the head and
hands, but not the body.
Right here we learn q curious fact:
Very little of the sswax figure" is really
made of wax. The exposed portions of
the body, head and hands, are. but those
covered by clothes are not. The latter
are made of carton dierrre, which con-
sists of strips of paper and linen pressed
alternately into the plaster mould, the
inside of the latter being lined in this
manner to a thickness of about quarter
of an inch. This layer is then pressed
down by a thin coating of plaster, and
when the carton thus formed is dry
and ready to be taken out, it is as hard
as stone. If Indians, Africans or other
savages are to appear in group, their
lightly clad bodies are cast in plaster,
painted over with the color of their dus-
ky skins.
But to return to wax work proper.
President Lincoln's body, we see, is be-
ing reproduced in carton as rapidly as
the lively, plump French woman TO
whom the work is entrusted can get the
paper and linen into the mould. The
mould of the head, meanwhile, goes to
the room of the wax worker, or cirier, as
he is called, for the French produce the
cleverest work in this line. Here it is
filled with hot wax, and when the wax
nearest the outside has cooled and hard
ened, clinging to the inner side of the
mould, the rest, still warm, is poured off,
so that the wax head is hollow when it is
taken out of the mould. 1t would be
difficult at this stage to discover much
resemblance to President Lincoln, for the
head-hairless, eyeless and colorless-
looks exceedingly CHASTITY. tbs now
| that the cirier must show his skill. and
put the appearance of life into this corpse
! like face. His tools are of the simplest
= spatula and some blunted needles set
in small pieces of wood OF matches-but
with these he works wonders. Hair and
beard, eyelashes and eyebrows are first
put on, most laborious task, for in a
carefully and well-made head each indi-
vidual hair is pushed into the wax with
the needle. After this hole is punched
through each eye, and a ball set on the
end of curved rod so that it will pass
into the head from below, is heated and
pressed against the eye from the inside.
| This produces hollow into which glass
eyes are set. Finally the heated spatula
| is used to trace wrinkles and crows feet
produce pimples, and the cracks in the
| lips, and to form teeth and tongue if the
| mouth appears half open. The pores in
the skin are produced by drawing lines
on the face across each other, by means
of number of blunt needles set in a
wooden handle. The shaven portions of
| the face are well indicated by dots of
color pushed in with the needle, while
for bristly beard of recent growth,
ls1,o b-,. CT 70 HING
are covered with colored wax-teeth,
| tongue, and finger nails being indicated
| i'll the same way.
| So we see there is work enough in the
mere making of a wax figure, and that
| the work increases in proportion as more
care and artistic skill is employed. Fur
thermore, when a large group is to be
made-like that of Columbus before Fer
! dinand and Isabella at the Eden Musee-
| The composition THAT is the relative posi-
| ton of the various fgures) has to be care
| fully considered. For this purpose pen
| Gil sketches are first made, and these are
usually repeated in clay sketch, that is,
small bas relief in clay. This, though
rough in execution, .sblocked OUT as the
sculptor says, nevertheless gives the ar
| fist a good idea of the arrangement and
general effect of the group. Only then,
| after cafeIul CONSIDERATION. Is the nlouell-
ing of the figures begun.
| When the figures are finished there is
still enough to be done. The figures
must be dressed, furniture and other ac-
cessories must be selected and placed
with care, the background prepared, the
matter Of effective lighting carefully con-
sidered, and with all this, the arrange
ment and color affect of the whole must
| be ALWAYS kept in view
The matter of clothes presents not a
few difficulties, even in figures of modern
people. Fashions change rapidly, and to
be correct Lincoln must be dressed in
the particular style of loose coat and
baggy trousers which was worn while he
was President, nor would it do to put the
Virginia militiamen who are guarding
John Brown on his way to execution
into the uniform of a United States regu-
lar of to-day. But such costumes are
not always easy to get, and foreign uni
forms, even of the present time, are
usually made in Europe and imported.
And even then errors will creep in. For
that group of the Emperor William LII OF
Germany, his wife the Empress, and the
little Crown Prince, the uniforms were
made by the Emperor's own tailor. the
Hofschneider. And then there all those