Facing a May 1997 deadline set by Mr. Costner for the resort to open, Ms. Detmers says she contracted with other artisans and an art foundry in Wyoming and went to work sketching and sculpting small-scale wax figures.

WSJ: Forget 'Wolves'��Kevin Costner Grapples With Bison These Days

For small-scale sculptures in the early 1990s, Mr. Othoniel made disembodied orifices from wax and sulfur.

WSJ: Jean-Michel Othoniel's Retrospective My Way in Brooklyn