President Obama In Wax

Texas Barack Obama A wax artist at the Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax Museum in Grand Prairie Texas is feverishly working to complete a President Obama wax figure.

Published: Tue, January 20, 2009 - 4:19 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, January 20, 2009 - 4:22 pm CST

GRAND PRAIRIE, TX ― As Washington prepares to inaugurate President-Elect Barack Obama, a wax artist at the Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax Museum in Grand Prairie feverishly works to complete an Obama wax figure.

Creating a wax figure takes months of work. The artist has to pay attention to the every detail from the eyes, to the smile.

At the Grand Prairie museum visitor's can see a wax figure of every American president from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Come Tuesday the prime museum spot that Bush has had for eight years will now be the official space of Barack Obama.

Wax artist Sonya Vasquez is creating the new president in wax. Monday she worked on the face, first using water and clay. Once the perfect likeness is achieved, Vasquez will pour hot wax on the clay figure to create a mold.

To make the creation Vasquez positions photographs of Barack Obama around her… studying different angles as she sculpts.

"I think he has nice eyes," said the artist. "That seems to be the area that I'm getting stuck on, because I really want to get that across."

Once the mold for the eyes is perfect, prosthetic eyes will be inserted. The teeth have been ordered from a dentist's office. A different artist will insert each strand of his hair, individually, and finally a body mold will be made.

Workers at the museum had hoped to complete the Obama wax figure in time for the swearing-in ceremony, but that isn't going to happen.

It will be a few more weeks before the Obama wax figure is complete, and Vasquez hopes the wait will be worth it. Ultimately, she said her goal is for visitor's to feel like they're truly looking at the 44th president of the United States.

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