Wax

“ Tommy Candy had once irreverently named Miss Wax's parlor "the Wax Works," and the name had stuck, as naughty nicknames are apt to do. It was indeed quite a little museum in itself of the fruit of bygone accomplishments. Wax fruit, wax flowers—chiefly roses—in profusion, all carefully guarded by glass; pictures in worsted work, pictures in hair work, all in home-made frames of pinked leather, of varnished acorns, of painted velvet ”

“ Wax is the animal fat of the bees, and to produce it requires a considerable consumption of honey to supply the drain upon the system. To be capable of passing through the pores of the abdomen, the wax must no doubt be a liquid oily matter, which, on making its appearance outside the abdominal rings, thickens, and exudes from under the four medial ones, in flakes like fish-scales, one on each side; so that there are eight of these secreting cavities, which are peculiar to the worker, not being found either in the queen or drone. ”

“ The copious table of contents possesses great attraction for persons of refined taste, embracing every variety of flower usually modelled in wax: its arrangement is calculated to lead the learner, by easy steps, from the most simple to the most elaborate accomplishment of a very delightful task. ”

“ To make this into the white wax it is boiled in water, spread out into thin layers, and exposed to the light and air; this is repeated until all the color has gone and the wax remains pure and white. Pure wax is a soft-feeling substance, harder than tallow, and not greasy to the touch ”

“ The Danger of Modelling in Wax.—Few persons, especially, perhaps, of the many young ladies who are now practising the very pleasing art of modelling fruits, flowers, &c., in wax, at all suspect the great danger in which they are placed from the poisonous nature of the colouring matter of the wax which they handle so unsuspectingly. ”

“ In wax work generally, one is made painfully aware of the all-powerful presence of the forceps, but here we notice little or nothing of the kind, this is especially the case with the small blossoms, which expand their petals throughout a monster bouquet in wax. ”

“ The very bees that distil the wax are sacred. They range in gardens planted with sweet flowers for their use alone. The wax is gathered by consecrated hands, and the shaping of the candles is a holy task performed in holy places, with the singing of hymns, and in an atmosphere of prayer. ”

“ When the air is well withdrawn, and kept out by touching the orifice, at every inspiration, with the point of the tongue, the wax is at last pressed together with the teeth, and the little hole in it closed up, leaving a vacuum within the horn for the blood to flow from the already scarified parts. ”

“ The passion for symbolism extracted ever new meanings out of the candles and their use. Early in the 6th century Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, pointed out the three-fold elements of a wax-candle (Opusc. ix. and x.) , each of which would make it an offering acceptable to God; the rush-wick is the product of pure water, the wax is the offspring of virgin bees, [14] the flame is sent from heaven. [15] Clearly, wax was a symbol of the Blessed Virgin and the holy humanity of Christ. The later middle ages developed the idea. ”

“ For sealing letters no light is so convenient as a wax taper. A lamp or candle may smoke and blacken the wax. To seal well, your wax should be of the finest quality. Good red wax is generally the best, and its colour should be of a brilliant scarlet. Inferior red wax consumes very fast ”

“ The wax, as it reaches the surface, varies in purity, and, in new workings especially, only hand-picking is needed to separate the pure material. In other cases much earthy matter is mixed with the material, and then the rock or shale having been eliminated by hand-picking, the " wax-stone " is boiled with water in large coppers, when the pure wax rises to the surface. ”

“ Wax′-paint′ing, a kind of painting, the pigments for which are ground with wax and diluted with oil of turpentine; Wax′-palm, either of two South American palms yielding wax; Wax′-pā′per, paper prepared by spreading over its surface a thin coating made of white wax and other materials.—adj. Wax′-red (Shak.) , bright-red like sealing-wax.—ns. Wax′tree, a genus of plants of natural order Hypericaceæ, all whose species yield a yellow resinous juice when wounded, forming when dried the so-called American gamboge ”

“ Wax is a secretion from honey, which oozes out between the rings which form the body, and is then worked with the mouth until it is fit for the construction of the comb. Bees also make a gummy substance for varnishing their cells, which they procure from the buds of trees. ”

“ If it is deemed advisable—which I think is only required in very dark over-done pictures—to wax the negative, it is easily managed by holding a piece of white wax or candle in front of a clean iron rather hot, and passing it frequently over the surface. ”

“ The white wax, for instance, contains white lead; the green, copper; the yellow, chrome yellow and vermilion—strong poisons all; while many other kinds of wax are equally poisonous, and, therefore dangerous. There are very many persons who are aware of the intense sufferings, for very many years past, of Mr. W. Bally, phrenologist and modeller in wax, in which latter branch he has laboured for 24 or 25 years, three of them as teacher of the art, at the Manchester Mechanics' Institution. ”

“ III.—A good floor wax is composed of 2 parts of wax and 3 parts of Venice turpentine, melted on the water bath, and the mixture applied while still hot, using a pencil, or brush, for the application, and when it has become solid and dry, diligently rubbed, or polished down with a woolen cloth, or with a floor brush, especially made for the purpose. ”

“ When all the wax is placed, model it into shape with a smooth, wedge-ended bit of pine{60} wood. To clean out wax that ran into the hair by melting, apply alcohol with a bit of cloth, scratch the waxy hair loose with finger nail and rub the crumbled wax out with the bit of alcohol dampened cloth. This leaves lips, eyelids, and nostrils neatly finished. Apply thin varnish to nose, edge of eyelids, and bare parts of lips that show. For mounting a mammal with open mouth, follow same note given in making a whole head for rug. ”

“ The beautiful imitations of natural flowers in wax which have lately afforded an attractive exercise for the taste and ingenuity of many of our youthful countrywomen, were first introduced into England by the mother of Mary Beatrice, as a present to her royal daughter ”

“ Wax is an excrementitious matter, secreted among the abdominal folds of the bees for the sole purpose of constructing the honey and brood-combs: the scraps of wax that are observed in winter and spring upon the hive floors, and which, to the minds of common observers, convey the idea that they are crumbs caused by the bees consuming the wax for food, are produced by their nibbling the lids of the cells to uncover the honey. ”

“ The pistillum and stigma are painted entirely over with the same colour previously used for veining. Cut five fine stamina in white wax, to the points of each attach an anther, cut in deep orange wax. They are placed across the end, and united by pressing them together with the head of the curling pin. ”

“ Upon canvas fully imbibed with wax, you can neither use so great a body of colours, nor employ them with such freedom, boldness, or delicacy as you may upon cloth, whose texture is not pre-occupied with wax—the reason is obvious—the one has its pores and interstices filled up with wax ”

“ Melt the cold wax out by dipping in the wax pot and you will have a brush that will be more manageable and will hold more wax for the size of its point, than one would have with the regular unshaped brush. ”

“ Wax′-wing, a genus of small Passerine birds, so named from most of the species having small red horny appendages, resembling red sealing-wax, on their wings; Wax′work, work made of wax, esp. figures or models formed of wax: (pl.) an exhibition of wax figures; Wax′worker.—adj. Wax′y, resembling wax: soft: pallid, pasty: adhesive: (slang) irate, incensed.—Waxy degeneration, a morbid process in which the healthy tissue of various organs is transformed into a peculiar waxy albuminous substance—also amyloid or lardaceous degeneration. ”

“ I likewise prepare wax, called "double wax," it is twice as thick as the ordinary wax. When the single wax is used double, the two shining sides should be placed together. It has sheets of tissue paper placed between it to keep each sheet of wax smooth and straight (a great advantage,) for when this is not done (though the wax may be good) , the edges are often wrinkled, and a great deal of waste is the consequence.
The Colours—eleven in number, submitted for sale on my counters, 160, 161, 162, 163, Soho Bazaar, are of the very best quality, and ground down particularly fine in spirits. ”

“ By this invention, all the wax, even of the oldest combs, can be secured, in beautiful condition, and as it is perfectly neat, there is no danger of provoking the "best woman in the world," as we are in danger of doing by use of either of the above methods—for what is more untidy and perplexing than to have wax boil over on the stove, and perhaps get on to the floor, and be generally scattered about. ”

“ Wax. There are several varieties of this substance, but bees-wax is a secretion of that insect from its ventral scales. With this substance the comb is constructed; it takes the bees, according to Huber's account, twenty-four hours to secrete the six laminæ of wax in the wax pockets, which may be seen to exude between the segments of the under side of the abdomen of the bee. ”

“ The stamina are produced by cutting three or four narrow strips of double yellow wax, and passing them round the foundation; they must not extend above it, but when brushed out form a full daisy-like centre. The five petals are attached to the back of these, and the stem finished off as the last. ”

“ Wax behaves in a similar manner to tallow. A wax figure can exist for a century without collapsing, if only the temperature does not attain the melting-point, whilst the same figure worked in sealing-wax would gradually flow away. ”

“ Chovet's wax-work, in which all the various parts of the human body are represented for the benefit of young students in anatomy, and of which I gave you a particular description a year or two ago, was much more pleasing to me. Wax is much fitter to represent dead bodies than living ones. ”

“ Wax is the last, and, as I have before pointed out, is, whether used melted or softened by warm water, of the highest service to the artist. Beeswax, when melted, will mix well with either plaster or whiting, or with both, and will make a useful modelling composition, its brittleness being determined by its containing more or less plaster. Wax will also mix with red ochre, and makes a modelling composition. Modelling wax is sold, however, ready prepared, and is useful to pack under the skin for delicate muscles or "flabby" folds of skin. ”

“ The wild Indians of the North discovered a use for the balsam in mending their bark dishes, and plugging knot holes in the wooden trenchers. The wax is slow to dissolve in water, and it resisted for a long time such soups as were known to the redman’s culinary art. Bees know the value of the wax and use it to seal cracks and crevices in their hives and to hold the comb in place. It is popularly believed that the economy of the wax on the buds is to keep them from freezing. ”

“ Wax, honey, pitch, and other resinous bodies, are well used in order to make the exclusion more perfect, and to remove the air and celestial influence. We "have sometimes made an experiment by placing a vessel or other bodies in quicksilver, the most dense of all substances capable of being poured round others. ”

“ The Wax Figures a patty Show: but with their painted Cheeks and glassy Eyes—especially such as nod and move—do look like Life in Death. The Drefsses very handsome, and I think, correct; and the Sight of so many People of Note in the Array of their Time, did much delight me. ”

“ Look down on the top of the candle around the wick. See, it is a little cup full of melted wax. The heat of the flame has melted the wax just round the wick. The cold air keeps the outside of it hard, so as to make the rim of it. The melted wax in the little cup goes up through the wick to be burnt, just as oil does in the wick of a lamp. What do you think makes it go up, uncle? ”

“ With the sort of paper described for country houses, or for young people, or those living in studios or bungalows, gay sealing wax may be quite alluring, especially if it can be persuaded to pour smoothly like liquid, and not to look like a streaked and broken off slice of dough. ”

“ To Mold a Calla Lily. Have ready a basin of hot soap suds, strong as possible of soap, and hot, so that your lily will be smooth, not lumpy or bubbly. Melt your wax by setting the tin cup in boiling water, as glue is melted. To every pound of white wax add a tube of Winsor & Newton’s flake white paint, dissolved and thoroughly mixed with one tablespoonful balsam fir, or Venetian turpentine, and half table spoonful of dissolved gum mastic, the whitest possible. This is a good recipe for sheeting wax for your own use, and will be given below in preparations for sheeted wax flowers. ”

“ Eight of the last named petals are shaded darker than the others, and are placed on first.
The centre or foundation is formed by moulding wax into a solid substance, two inches in diameter and three-quarters of an inch in depth. The stamina are very numerous, and cut according to patterns. ”

“ If a brush overloaded with hot wax is set on the cloth, the wax will spread in a drop or blur at the point where the brush touches the cloth, which will make the line irregular. Of course, to have an even flow of wax from the brush, the temperature of the wax must be kept the same. If the worker dips first into wax that is hot and which sinks into the cloth easily and then into wax that is so cool that it stays on top of the cloth and refuses to penetrate the fiber, the finished work will be ragged and uneven about the edges. ”