Most of us who attend mortuary school were required to take a class called “Restorative Art”.  The Restorative Art and Science textbook states, “Restorative art is defined as the care of the deceased to recreate natural form and color.  In our attempt as funeral service practitioners to restore the deceased human remains to its most natural appearance, we predicate our efforts on the scientific understanding of the human facial and cranial form.”
The culmination of our “scientific understanding of the human facial and cranial form” is the “wax head.”  We are given a plastic skull (see below) and a bunch of wax (or clay).  Our job is to make the wax head look like an actual face.  Some of us aren’t too good at it (mine was a poor resemblance of my wife), and others are spectacular. -ce59a49aee903f85
On my Confessions of a Funeral Director Facebook page, I asked those who have completed a “Wax Head” to show their work.  Out of the nearly 100 who responded, I took the ones that garnered the most likes (although the Worf and Spock ones were my personal favorites, so I added them too).

One.

23

By Morticia Addams

 

 

Two.

3

By Sydney Southard

Three.

2

By Cara Porco

Four.

4

By Dan Rosenburg

Five.

5

By Anabel Gilbert

Six.

6

By Heather Bressert

Seven.

22

By Morticia Addams

Eight.

7

By Matt Carter

Nine.

8

By Elizabeth Wehrum


Ten.

10

By Celia Peters

Eleven.

12

By Dionne Moore

Twelve.

13

By Rebekah Mann

Thirteen.

14

By Amber Hawkins

Fourteen.

10425503_482586908546674_8294113413698399561_n

By Taylor Rae

Fifteen.

9

By Alex Moran

Sixteen.

16

By Donna Garrido McAuley

Seventeen.

17

By Josh Martin

Eighteen.

18

By James Vanecko

Nineteen.

19

By Jen Partenheimer

Twenty.

21

By Catherine Lynch

Twenty One.

11

By Stefanie Crockett

If you’re interested in the life of a funeral director, you might be interested in my book!

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