Beeswax

Miniature portraits in wax are no novelty. They were a favorite genre in the 16th Century, and have always been a popular stunt because the medium lends itself to such palpable imitation of Nature. At present, one Mrs. Calcott of London is experimenting with a new method in wax. "She does not try to make her miniature's lifelike and for that reason is more artistic. . . ." She says of her process that she uses pure White beeswax and melts the color into it. To a large extent she makes her portraits by taking casts of a clay or wax model, particularly because it would be so difficult to keep wax clean in London. Each color must be cast separately, the parts afterwards joined up with a hot tool. She has been especially successful in portraits of infants and small children where the delicacy of the flesh and coloring is beautifully rendered in the soft translucency of the wax.