Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-06-03
How Seulptors Work
THEIR METHODS WITH TIE CLAY AND WITH
THE MARBLE.
Correspondence of the Philadelphia Pressl

Correspondence OF the Philadelphia Press.l
Ipassed n forenoon recently i'll the stu
dio of Mr.. Wilson Mcdonald n we'll
known sculptor of New York, and watch
ed him at work on his colossal statue,
The Continental Soldier. | was the only
visitor, and Mr.. Mcdonald talked to me
as he worked, explaining in detail the
various stages by which the sculptor's
idea is worked out of shapeless mass
of clay into form and beauty. Let me
tell you about it am sure you will find
it interesting.
Mr.. Mcdonald is not worker in mar
BILE he confines himself to statues of clay,
which are afterward cast in bronze, and
it is that branch of sculpture which |
propose to describe. The first step i'll
the work is to make model of the in
tended statue, say two feet high, but
always by scale, which he calls the ''in
tellectual," and to it he gives long and
careful study. Every feature must have
.Ifc and expression, every limb strength
and character When it is finished he
prepares for the statue by building a
strong skeleton framework of iron, and
on this he lays the clay, making rough
outline of the figure To fashion this
unsightly trunk into the shape of man
he begins at the feet and works upward,
calling into service nude living model,
who poses hour after hour, with nccessa-
ry resting periods, in the desired posi-
ton. Every muscle and tendon i'll the
model is reproduced in the clay. for the
statue is always made nude, whether it is
to be clothed when finished or not. Over
certain parts of the body whose proper
tions must be carefully preserved the
artist spreads thin layer of highly color
ed clay, SO that in subsequently working
down the drapery with his tool he will
not cut into the figurc-tho colored clay
warns him to stop.
When the nude figure is finished, drap
cry or clothing is put OH the living model
precisely rs it is to appear on the statue,
and he is made to pose again in the re-
quired position. The sculptor now pro-
ceeds to drapo the statue by laying on
clay where drapery is necessary and work
ing 1t into shape rs deity and as easily
as you would write paragraph, except
| i'll the matter Of time consumed. If he
could get along Us rapidly with his work
as | do with the description of it he would
make oceans of money, but colossal sta
tue il the object of close study, hard Ia
| Dor and tender solicitude for from eight
to twelve months Night after night as
work is suspended the figure is carefully
| covered with damp cloths and n sort of
sentry cox made Of strips of wood and
oilcloth il put over it to keep the clay in
proper condition for work the next day.
But the modelling and the cutting and
| the scraping come to an end ut last, and
the huge, dark gray figure stands before
its maker all radiant with life and genius.
His eve kindlcs and his heart throbs with
| pardonable pride as he looks upon its
beautiful Proportions the work of his
hands-and an irresistible feeling oil sad
ness comes over him rs he thinks that in
few days it must knocked and battered
into shapeless clay again. But | must
not get ahOal of my story.
The sculptor's idea is materializel in
the finished clay statue, but it is to live
in imperishable bronze, and the mechan
ical part of the work now begins His
assistants apply liquid plaster Of Paris to
the figure with brushes, beginning at the
bottom and carefully filling every fold
and crevice The plaster harlens rapid
| ", and coat after coat is put on until it is
about two inches thick. This plaster
forms the mold in which the model for
the bronze foundry is to be cast, and it
must be made i'll sections, SO that 1t can
| be readily removed from the clay figure
when done. To accomplish this, rows of
little wooden pegs are inserted aroun the
| figure, where it is desired to have the
Joints in the mold, and on them is placed
strip of clay half an inch thick and two
inches wide. The plaster is put on up to
this strip, the upper edge of each section
ia doubled, the pegs are removed, and the
plaster allowed to harden. The strip of
clay is then taken off and the edge of the
plaster covered with shellac to prevent
the next section from adhering as the
brushes apply it. This work is con-
tinued until the whole figure is covered,
and after standing day ortwo TO harden,
the mold is removed by sections. 1t sop
arates easily from the clay figures and
the latter, having served its purpose and
given the sculptor matrix for his plas-
ter model, is broken into shapeless frag-
ments of clay to be used again when
needed
The sculptor now covers tie inner sur
face of the mold with shellac to prevent
the plaster from sticking, fits together
nicely and firmly all the parts belonging
to the figure and the plinth, the statues
foot piece, except those for the arms,
which for convenience are cast separately,
and pours in liquid plaster of Paris by
he bucketful until the mold is full. In
two days the plaster hardens and the
mold is taken Off 1t only remains for
him to Join the arms to the figure. and
he does this by wctting the surface to he
welded and holding the arms in position
little while, when they become firm and
solid. The original clay figure has now
been reproduced in plaster of Paris, the
latter is sent to the foundry where the
bronze statue is to be cast, and the sculp-
tors work is done. But let us follow
the plaster model and see how the foun-
dryman goes about his part of the work.
He makes mold for casting by laying
moist clay i'll small pieces over the model,
cut to fit neatly and compactly and so ar
ranged that one supports another. Pres
sure upon the clay gives an exact I'M
precision of every mark and crevlce of
the figure on the inner surface of these
pieces, and heat is then employed to dry
and harden them. They are then taken
off and built up into perfect mold OF
figure, the pieces being fitted together
much as u boy puts together dissected
puzzle. core of sand is put III the
mold-for the statue is to be hollow-and
little holes are drilled in it near the bot
tom to permit the air to pass out as the
red hot metal is poured in otherwise
there would be an explosion and n gene
raj smashing of things. Even with all
the precautions which skill and experience
have taught foundrymen to use explo-
sions sometimes occur.
1t is worthy of note that American foun-
dries can cast bronze statue cheaper.
quicker and better than it can be done
abroad. Pure bronze is 90 per cent cop
per and 10 per cent tin. bmt many foreign
| foundries use lead or some alloy on nc
count of the high price of copper IN
their markets This spurious bronze is
eusily detected by its dull, dingy appear
ance. Marble is no longer used, or rare
| ly for outdoor statues on account of its
liability to disinteSrate. 1t cannot stand
great changes Of temperature and grad
ually crumbles away, while bronze IL I'M
perishable
Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg.
| Four-scoro and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth upon this continent
IL new nation conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men
ora croataJ anuaI Nov we are euGauel