The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-04-27
MAKING WAX FORMS
SHOW FIGURES FOR sHoPkeEPeRs
ARE COSTLY AFFAIRS.

SHOW FIGURES FOR SHoPkEEPERS
ARE COSTLY AFFAIRS.
The Way the Heads Are Nodded,
Dressed and Finished-The Hands
and Feet. as Rule, Are Made of
Papier Mache In Imitation of Wax.
WAX forms, or dummies SAID the
dealer, have iron feet. Why have
they iron feet? To weight them down,
SO that they will stand erect
He stood in his workshop, a room as
big as a concert hall. All around him
helpers We're making legs, heads, hands,
trunks, feet. Floods of clear light from
the glazed roof fell upon heaps of
limbs, upon rows OF heads, upon mounds
of bodies. The place had a CHASTITY
look. 1t resembled the scene of mas
sacre.
"The art of making show figures"
said the dealer, has improved" He
took up in his hand the head of a young
girl. The red lips smiled, revealing
white teeth; the brown hair curled
lllC eyes were tuSlc
was a dimple in the cheek.
"A head like this" he said, sis worth
$15. Heads range in price from 81 to
$50. They are made of wax; they are
hollow; the eyes are of glass, and the
hair is human hair. I'll tell you how
they are made.
s.WaX-a great quantity of it's boil
ed in a big kettle until it has tile con-
sistency Of water. 1t is then poured
into row of hollow molds, the molds
Of heads, that stand awaiting it. The
molds are hung up and shaken about.
This process causes the wax to cool
and to adhere in crust to the mold's
inside. The agitation is kept up until
the crust of wax has reached the thick
ness that the operator requires, where
upon the hot wax, the surplus, is pour
ed back into the kettle About the
mold, which is made in two halves,
Jacket is placed, and the continuance is
put away to dry.
when the drying is complete the
mold is taken off, and man goes over
The wax head with sharp instrument,
clearing out the nostrils and ears and
smoothing away the lines created here
and there by the junction of the mold's
halves. He also inserts, with deft
movement, glass eyes in the empty eye
sockets.
"Now the head passes to girl, q
girl with strange sort of needle, the
eye of which is open, or split, at the
top. The girl first puts on the eye
brows. She threads the needle with a
hair, runs it through the wax and,
withdrawing it, leaves the hair behind,
for the needles eye, that is open at the
top, makes it inevitable for the hair
to stay where it is put. The girl works
with great rapidity. In a few minutes
she has the head adorned with pair
Of long and shaggy eyebrows.
'.Next she puts on the hair. For this
work she uses the same sort of needle,
the hair being In every case human.
For the cheaper heads, however, 1t is
Chinese hair. human, but very luster-
less, coarse variety. Beside her stands
tiny spirit lamp. This she applies to
the wax when it becomes so hard that
the needle won't penetrate it easily. AS
soon as she finishes one head she passes
on to another, while the head she laid
down is taken up by man.
''This man cleans it first with kero
sene. Then he paints it all over 9
pleasant and inviting flesh color. He
tints the cheeks, the ears and the nos
trils with carmine, and he paints the
lips with rouge. A girl, professional
hairdresser, now takes the head IL
hand, curls the hair and dresses i
fashionably and applies coat o!
French powder to the face. The heat
Is now finished.
Glands and feet are made, as rule
of papier mache, enameled and painted
q flesh color, so that they look like til,
best wax. Hands, feet, bodies, legs
and arms are made in hollow molds."
The dealer led the way to the bacl
of the shop.
"Here," he said, "are some men max
ing forms Of papier mache now. Watcl
them"
The workmen had molds Of various
sizes and shapes before them-one tn
mold Of a hand, another that of foot
q third that of whole figure from tn
neck down to the ankles.
These molds were in halves. The pa
pier mache that was to fill them locke,
In it's dry state like blotting paper
Wet it resembled gray pulp. With thi
gray pulp the workmen lined tn
molds interiors well, seeing to it tina
every Granny and nook got its thicl
lining. When the molds were filed
some were in numerous pieces-the
were Joined together, covered wit
their Jackets and put away to dry.
The artists cannot protect, canno
copyright, their work in any way
Hence they are constantly being preye
upon by imitators and thieves. A dea
,er, for instance, will order an origins
hoad oP a ,unnaan from 81 noted max e