An excellent wax figure should have a temperature of life beyond the visual “realistic” semantic field, and it must be able to touch people’s hearts. The wax figure without the temperature of life and the soul it would be just a specimen.
Have you ever stopped in your tracks to appreciate a wax figure? Do you find yourself wondering how they’re made or how long it takes to create one? If so, then this article is for you! We’ll answer all your questions about wax figures and provide you with an in-depth look at the fascinating process behind them. So, get ready to learn all there is to know about wax figures!
Contents
What is Wax Art?
The history of the wax figure is more than thousand years. The history of making wax figures can trace back to ancient Egypt when the Egyptians made wax figures of their gods and put them in tombs. With famous wax sculpture artists like Marie Tussaud and Madame Blavatsky creating some of the most iconic wax creations in history. Technology continues to progress. Nowadays, the new tech and materials are widely used in making wax statues to make more lifelike wax sculptures, such as 3D printing, silicone, fiberglass, etc.
Wax art is a form of sculpture that is able to more closely replicate the original form of the characters it depicts than other traditional sculptures. These figures often appear to be lifelike, possess an ornamental beauty, and can be used to accurately recreate historical figures.
Making wax figures is an interesting and intricate craft, of course, nothing about making wax figures is easy, especially when recreating someone who is still alive today! Each one needs exact attention to detail in order for customers to get an immersive experience, which have not changed since this beautiful craft began centuries ago, bringing smiles across generations.
In the modern day, however, there has been a transition toward integrating technology into wax figure manufacturing. 3D printing technology in the modern day is a great asset for wax art. The use of this technology significantly enhances the accuracy that wax models offer.
What is The Difference Between Wax Figures and Silicone Figures?
Silicone Figures
Silicone material has unique physical and chemical properties. It is used for many applications because of its excellent durability and biocompatibility. In addition to that, it can withstand conditions like high temperatures up to 230 degrees and low temperatures between 120 degrees to zero.
Silicone is a noticeable material to make figures. Figures made from silicone look real. The touch is closer to the natural skin texture, after painting and make up the coloring can be permanented. Same as life size wax figures, silicone sculptures also need to prepare videos, photos, and ideas about the subject. Sculptors can do the creation depends on pictures and videos ,but the similarity will be better if we can get measurements of the subject. The body is made to have a natural skin tone and features a permanent color. The main color can be modified before the last process.
Wax Figures
Wax figures are made from wax as the main material. This material can be molded in different shapes at room temperature and melts at high temperatures. In addition, it can be mixed with fats or oils to modify its texture and consistency. These properties have made wax to be an excellent medium for modeling. Wax figures exhibit lifelike poses.
Making wax figures has not changed compared to the middle times. First, precise measurements are taken and recorded to make a similar figure to the subject. Further, the next step involves makeup to achieve a realistic look. Things like eyes, eyelashes, natural human hair, and skin tone are added to achieve a realistic look. These physical features have to match the real people.
Which one can be stored for a long time
Requirements for preserving wax figures are pretty high. Even though they require high preservation, wax figures have a long-serving life. The first wax figure made by Madame Tussauds 200 years ago is still in good condition. Besides that, the figures cannot be washed many times. It is also easily destroyed by artificial bumps. At the same time, they are not resistant to high temperatures. So the risk of using wax to make wax figures is relatively high.
Silicone figures can be stored for a long time without many requirements. In particular, Platinum silicone is recommended as a mold material for casting. It is also flexible and can resist high temperatures or low temperatures. They can be wiped with a cloth, washed with water, and rubbed by hand. The touch is closer to the natural skin texture, permanent coloring and make up vivid.
In terms of the quality of the wax figure and the storage of the wax figure, the silicone material is a better material for making the wax figure.
What Makes a Good Silicone Wax Figure?
To make a perfect silicone wax figure, it is necessary to collect sufficient character data in the early stage. These data include physical data: such as height, measurements, skin color, etc.; daily life data: dressing style; character data: personality habits, and expressions.
Silicone figures can be stored for a long time without many requirements. In particular, Platinum silicone is recommended as a mold material for casting. It is also flexible and can resist high temperatures or low temperatures. They can be wiped with a cloth, washed with water, and rubbed by hand. The touch is closer to the natural skin texture, permanent coloring and make up vivid.
Excellent silicone wax figure creation team
This is critical. A professional sculptor team will study all character data to understand the subject’s personality characteristics before production. When they were creating the clay model of the silicone wax figure, they injected the character’s personality learned earlier into the clay model and then spent a lot of time making the skin texture and other details…
The selection of silicone materials
If the material you choose is good, then the silicone wax produced will be better, and the image will be very realistic. The quality of the material will be see from color, tactility, and brightness. If ordinary silicone is used, the disadvantages will be exposed after a prolonged storage time. The silicone wax figure will secrete oil and fade at the same time. This is one of the reasons why we insist on using platinum silicone. If the same silicone wax figure designer uses different materials to create, the effect of the wax produced will be very different.
How is a Wax Figure Made?
Making wax figures is an interesting and intricate craft. It involves recreating a person, either from life or from a photograph, in the form of a wax sculpture. This process can take months to perfect, if we want to do a statue for a person who can’t measure onsite, usually begins with collect a lot of pictures and sculptors taking measurements off the reference image, while they will learn about this character, in order to recreate their vision art accurately.
Each process needs to be completed by experienced craftsmen, such as sculptors, moulders, make-up artists, hair planters, etc. Each segmentation part needs to be unified in the final overall visual sense of the wax figure. To achieve the ultimate goal of wax figure making.
- “Sculpting is the first step. The figures’ head circumference, eyebrow distance, pupil distance, nose length, etc., you must be familiar with the data. When the whole is roughly done, the partial detail work has just begun. Every producer must go to understand the creative objects’ appearance characteristics, daily habits, expressions, personalities, etc. Only by thoroughly understanding can the wax figures be made vividly.”
- After the mud sculpture was finished, it was turning over to a plaster concave mold. “Originally, we used the matched wax to fill the grooves to turn out the shape, and then process and modify it, but now we use a softer and close to human skin silicone mold. It’s better and easy to keep.”
- In the sculpture process, we need to finish the facial pores, skin texture, etc., and artificial eyes and teeth are installed to prepare for the subsequent coloring. “If every step closely linked to another, the face will have more details to see.”
- The coloring process is more like a painter drawing a light-color portrait of a character. The contours of the face, the dark side of the skin, natural spots, age spots, etc. are all done here, and the makeup artist makes modifications according to the facial characteristics.
In the hair planting process, it’s a test for the patience of the hair planter. According to the hair growth direction, the hair planter replants each hair into the silicone scalp with embroidery needles to form a natural hair path and a fluffy effect. Then, according to each creation, the hairstyle need to be retrimmed. It would take more than ten days for the character to “put on” a beautiful hair.
- The body torso covered by clothes should not be sloppy. According to the collected data, the torso characteristics of the creative object need to be restored. Finally, the costumer puts the characters in suitable clothes, and a wax figure is basically completed.
The Process to Make Silicone Wax Figure
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Measuring
Before the creation of the statue, sculptors get to know the person first, they look at videos, photographs, paintings, and they know the character’s story and habits. When do measurements, over 200 photographs of the person taken. They record the eye color, hair, skin, beauty marks, and how the star behaves.
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Creating the mold
Sculptors will create a life-size clay mold for the person first, after customer approval of the clay model. We turn the clay model to a silicone mold, then use the mold to do a life-size silicone statue.
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Finishing process
Eyes and teeth are installed to the silicone statue. Afterward, a colorist will paint the silicone statue, then apply around twenty layers of pigments on the figure to ensure the statue have natural skin tone and texture. Then hair staffs will do hair transplant for hairs, eyebrows, eyelashes, mustache, chest hair etc., and hairdresser have haircut just like real person. Lastly, the sculpture goes undergoes a thorough critiquing process.
Order Process
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1
Confirm what face and position for the statue to get the correct quote.
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2
After received down payment, The sculptor began to create a clay model and share you the work progress.
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3
We will send you photos and videos of each step, each angle. Until the effect of the clay model gets your approval.
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4
Proceed with moulding after got your confirmation of the clay model.
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5
Use mold to make silicone statue, and do make up, hair implantation, and customize clothes etc per the design.
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6
After finished the statue, we provide videos and pictures of the statue to customer for the final inspection.
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7
Check shipping cost and arrange the air or sea shipment to delivery.
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8
2 years free maintenance provided, but the travel expenses of the related workers need to be charged back.
Production Process
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1
Measurements collection
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2
Sculpture
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3
Client confirm the Clay Model
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4
Making Mould
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5
Try-on Clothes
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6
Color Processing
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7
Hair & Beard implants
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8
Top Artist Inspection
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9
Finished statue
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10
Package & Shipment
Conclusion
Want to do a life size wax sculpture for personal collection? We tell you how to do it step by step online, we can make sure your wax figure comes out similar up to 99% to 99.5%.
All wax figures can be created depends on pictures and videos, but time is very important, sculptors can work more careful if they have enough time. Usually we need 4 months to create a custom wax statue,if you want a custom wax statue for someone.
If you are considering creating a wax figure for someone special, you can trust the experts at ShesDoll. ShesDoll is committed to excellence in creating wax figures with the temperature of life and the soul for those seeking high-quality wax figures. With ShesDoll, you can be sure that your ideas will be crafted with skill and care. Contact ShesDoll today to get started on your wax ideas! You won’t be disappointed!
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