The whole production process is divided into 8 parts: tailoring, sculpture, molding injection, hair transplant, coloring, eyeball and tooth production, clothing accessories, wax figure completion.
The first step is to measure.
It usually takes 2 hours to measure a celebrity, which includes steps such as measuring the celebrity, taking a photo, donating clothing, making handprints, sampling hair samples, matching eyes, and taking autographs.
Among them, more than 250 accurate head and body measurement data will be used to provide sculptors for precise creation. During the process of tailoring, celebrities need to stand on the turntable, and photographers use different cameras from every angle. Lenses and lights take over 180 photos. Each wax figure consumes 150 kilograms of soil. The head sculpture took 6 weeks.
The second step is sculpture.
First, the sculptor will use metal tubes and wires to make a scaffold similar to a "human skeleton" to support the clay body of the wax figure. At the same time, the sculptor needs to have knowledge of anatomy to ensure that every bone, muscle, and tendon is accurately reproduced according to the different poses of the wax figure. When sculpting the head and body, the sculptor sculpts the head and body with reference to the measured data and photos taken during the tailoring process. Due to the thermal expansion and contraction of the wax, the head of the clay sculpture will be 2% larger than the real head.
The third step is injection molding.
It takes 170 hours to pour the wax figure into the mold. After the completion of the clay sculpture body, it will be made into a mold and made into a glass fiber reinforced plastic body. The plaster mold of the clay sculpture head can be divided into 13 mold blocks. The wax museum will heat a special mixture of beeswax and Japanese wax to 74 ℃ and pour it into the head mold. After the wax cools, the plaster mold will be removed to reveal the hollow wax head. Likewise, the hands of the wax figure are demolded and painted in the same way.
The fourth step is hair transplant.
Hair samples are collected in person and carefully matched to real human hair. It takes 140 hours to implant a wax figure's hair and eyebrows. Artists use a bifurcated needle to implant hairs into the wax figure's head one by one. It takes an average of 5 weeks to complete a wax figure's head. Hair implantation.
The fifth step is coloring.
Artists use 20 different colors to create realistic skin tones for the wax figures. It took 50 hours to paint the head of the wax figure, using oil paint to paint the head layer by layer to achieve translucent skin tones and realistic texture. At the same time, the tattoo will also be carefully painted on the wax figure hand, and every freckles, moles, every wrinkle and even dimples will be accurately copied to the wax figure.
The sixth step, the production of eyeballs and teeth.
The eyeballs are colour matched during measurement, each eyeball is made of resin and replicates all features. The iris of each eyeball is hand painted with gouache paint, and each tiny vein texture is added to the eyeball with fine velvet. It takes 15 hours to make a pair of eyeballs, and no two eyeballs are exactly the same. The teeth will be accurately restored with dental resin and color matching according to the tooth model obtained in advance. It takes about 30 hours to complete this step.
The seventh step, clothing accessories.
Many celebrities donate clothing to their wax figures themselves. The wax figure's stylist will prepare the wax figure's costume based on extensive research, and the entire team will carefully dress the figure and assemble all accessories. When the wax figure costumes cannot be donated, the costume team will collect a lot of materials very seriously to find suitable costumes and accessories.
The eighth step, the wax figure is completed.
Finally, the head and hands of the wax figure will be installed on the body made of fiberglass, and the corresponding costumes will be worn. Before the wax figure leaves the wax figure making workshop and goes to various wax museums, the wax figure will be transported to the studio and commented by the main creative staff, and the final wax figure will be photographed.
