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A wax model of Mother Teresa

FINISHING TOUCHES: Baby Alex with the life-size wax image of Mother Teresa.

Have you ever wished to pose for a photograph with Mother Teresa? Well, now, that dream can be realised with a life-size wax figure of the mother.

A 49-year-old artist, Baby Alex, of Kuzhimalayil at Kallooppara, near Mallappally, has sculpted the 5.2-ft-tall figure made of 30 kg of wax. The work took nearly four months, and Rs. 15,000 was spent on the materials needed, Mr. Alex says.

He had closed down his interlocking-tile manufacturing unit in his house to concentrate on his artistic pursuits. The colour selection matches with the skin tone of the beatified mother. Mr. Alex says he had used four colours to make the eyes perfect. Even the reddish hairline nerves in the eyes are shown. Hairs of a brown goat were used as eyelashes. Creating the wrinkles on the face was a difficult job. "Many people have approached me for making wax figures of their departed dear and near ones so that they could keep them in lifelike poses in their drawing rooms," Mr. Alex says. He says the management of a wax museum in Kanyakumari have signed an agreement with him for making wax models of prominent personalities. Sculpting wax images of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Kamalahasan and Mammootty, actors, are his immediate projects.

A 52-ft-tall giant palm, symbol of the Congress, made by Mr. Alex as publicity material for the election campaign of K.V. Thomas, MLA, in Ernakulam had fetched much attention.

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

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