Cleaning the Wax
Wow - what a month its been. We launched Lewis Hamilton in London and we're launching 2 more figures in April. Keep an eye on the website to find out who it is.....!
Last time we explained how we made the basic head of the celebrity. This week, we'll let you know what we do next....
Once the wax head has set and cooled, it is taken from the mould shop to the wax bench to be checked over and cleaned up. First the colour of the wax is checked by the Principle Colourist to make sure it is suitable for colouring. The Principle Sculptor then measures the head. It is so important at this point to be sure that the head has not shrunk or morphed inside the mould. On one occasion, it was only picked up after 4 weeks of hair insertion that the head had shrunk too much! Unfortunately the head had to be repoured and started all over again…
When everyone is happy with the wax head, the wax bench artists work to remove the seam lines left by the joins in the mould. To do this they work with wooden tools, rubbing the seams from side to side and in a criss-cross motion to smooth down the area. The ears and nose are also cleaned up and where necessary shapes and definition are carved back in. It is not unheard of at this stage to fill in wrinkles and smooth out smile lines if so requested!
Using a brass ball tool the artists work to burn out the eye holes to make room for the eye balls to be fitted. Starting with the smallest brass ball, the artists work their way through the different sized balls, slowly increasing the size of the eye hole until the desired size is reached. The same technique is used to burn out the space for teeth.
The final stage of the wax cleaning process is to smooth the surface with a brillo and distilled turpentine before using non latex sponges to create texture. This process takes 2-3 days depending on the expression and if their teeth are on show.
Find out how the teeth are made in next week’s blog…