Amador ledger., 1904-04-29
MAKING WAX FORMS
SHOW FIGURES FOR SHoPKeEPERs
ARE COSTLY AFFAIRS.

The Way the Heads Are Nodded,
Dressed and Finished-The Hands
and Feet, as a Rule, Are Made of
Papier Mache In Imitation of Wax.
"Wax forms, or dummies" said the
dealer, "have iron feet Why have
they iron feet2 To weight them down,
80 that they will stand erect"
He stood in his workshop, a room as
big as concert hall. All around him
helpers were 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 ghastly
look. 1t resembled the scene of a 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
gracefully; the eyes were bright; there
was dimple in the cheek.
"a head like this,' he said, 'is worth
SIS. 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.
'Wax-a great quantity of it's boil
ed in big kettle until it has the con-
sistency of water. 1t is then poured
into a 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, a
jacket is placed. and the contrivance is
put away to dry.
when the drying Is complete the
mold is taken off, and man goes over
the wax head with a 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 a deft
movement, glass eyes in the empty eye
sockets.
Now the head passes to girl, a
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 1t through the wax and,
withdrawing 1t, leaves the hair behind,
for the needles eye. that is open at the
top, makes it inevitable for the hair
to stay where 1t is put. The girl works
with great rapidity. In few minutes
she has the head adorned with a 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, it is
Chinese hair. u human, but very luster-
less, coarse variety. Beside her stands
a tiny spirit lamp. This she applies to
the wax when it becomes so hard that
the needle won't penetrate it easily. AS
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 1t all sover q
pleasant and inviting flesh color. He
tints the cheeks, the ears and the nos
lips with rouge. A girl, a professional
hairdresser, now takes the head in
hand, curls the hair and dresses it
fashionably and applies a coat of
French powder to the face The head
Is now finished.
Hands and feet are made, as a rule,
Of papier mache, enameled and painted
q flesh color, SO that they look like the
best wax. Hands, feet, bodies, legs
and arms are made in hollow molds."
The dealer led the way to the back
Of the shop.
Here" he said, "are some men max
ing forms of papier mache now. Watch
them"
The workmen had molds of various
sizes and shapes before them-one the
mold Of hand, another that Of foot,
third that Of whole figure from the
neck down to the ankles.
These molds were in halves. The pa
pier mache that was to hll them looked
In it's dry state like blotting paper.
Wet it resembled gray pulp. With this
gray pulp the workmen lined the
molds' interiors well, seeing to 1t that
every Granny and nook got its thick
lining. When the molds were filed
some were in numerous pieces-they
were Joined together, covered with
their Jackets and put away to dry.
The artists cannot protect, cannot
copyright, their work In any way.
Hence they are constantly being preyed
upon by fmitators and thieves. A deal
er, for instance, will order an original
head Of a woman from a noted maker
of show figures. He will turn out a
masterpiece. The dealer will make a
mold of it and sell duplicates of the
head broadcast.
There were in the past only three or
four makers of show forms in Ameri-
ca. Now there are over 200. The aver
from $40 to $25 week. The artist Of
great ability makes from $40 to S60
Show forms of the best sort are worth
500 and more apiece. They are rented
by their owners to shopkeepers more
often than they are sold outright the
advantage Of this method being that
the shopkeeper through it is able to
change his show forms often.-Phila-
delphia Press.