Measuring the Stars
I have recently returned from Taipai where I've been carrying out a research trip known within the company as a Sitting. This is the process we use to gather all the necessary information for creating a new wax figure.
Usually Sittings take place in hotels or conference rooms. Occasionally we get to go to the celebrities’ home or personal suite! There are usually 2 sculptors, 1 photographer, and a PR assistant. Sometimes we also have an assistant from the location to help out. Sittings can happen anywhere and everywhere! We’ve had Sittings in Havana, India, Taiwan, Las Vegas, New York, New Zealand and Amsterdam. We’ve been to The Ritz, The Hilton and the Royal Palace. We’ve also had a Sitting at a famous New York Baseball teams’ training ground! Sometimes celebrities come to the Studios for their Sitting but they are mainly UK or London based celebrities. As celebrities are always very busy, most of the time we go to them. We never pay celebrities!
Sittings can take between 1 and 3 hours. It really depends how much time the celebrity can spare. There’s so much information we need to get, so the longer they have, the better the information! We take approximately 200 different measurements. We take measurements all over the head and body. We use many different tools to take the different measurements. Our most useful tool is like a big compass called Callipers which we use to measure distances. We also need a tape measure, spirit level ruler and cloth tape which is similar to a tailor’s tape measure. The first measurement we take is always from the ‘ground to top of head in pose’. The head is always measured last after the body. I’d have to say the most embarrassing measurement to take is in the crotch area! It’s also a bit awkward measuring around the chest area if your celebrity is female…Sometimes they’ll give us their measurements beforehand so we can avoid it during the Sitting!
This is just a few of the many things that we do to create our figures and make them life like. Be sure to check back next week to find out more of what goes on at a Sitting with the stars!
