Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-06
SAINTS IN PLASTER.
The Making and Painting of De.
 votional Images.
How the Figures Arc Cast-Christ. the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph Most in Demand An Ambitious Artist at
 Work-Extent of the Industry.

Those who pass along one of the num- oered streets of the East side often pause on the sidewalk to look down into the open doorway of a cellar. The object that att tracts their attention, says the New York Star, is dark, good looking, South Ger man youth of eighteen or twenty, busy decorating sacred figures in plaster of paris. When you enter the cellar you find its front apartment surrounded by these plaster of Paris images in various stages of decorative completeness.
 The subterranean gloom is lighted up by the gold and crimson of the Sacred Heart, a Virgin in pink, an infant Jesus in white and gold, and a dozen other sacred and saintly figures. Half a dozen slender brushes, a few pots of paint and the mate rials and tools of a glider constitute the young artists stock in trade His time is chiefly employed in working for a great concern downtown, which turns out thou sands of such images every year.
 Image-making begins with the designer, and he commonly makes his designs from well-known statues, though in the case of some modern heroes and comic and fancy figures original designs must be made. For some time past there has been rush for figures of Christopher Columbus, and the sudden demand found at least one concern in this city unprovided with model of the discoverer.
 The design prepared, the mold must next be made. Mold making is a ticklish bus- ness, the work of skilled and well-paid artisans. The material of the mold is plaster of Paris. One mold often has many pieces. When the mold is finished and hardened the real work of image -molding l IS ready to begin. The inner surface of the mold is greased, and the liquid plaster of Paris is then poured into it. The image quick l~,l l~ ! indeed, several images may be made each day from single mold. The figure comes out | white and damp, with thin raised lines run | ming all over it where the joints of the mold have come. These lines and other ineoual- 1 ities and blemishes are carefully removed. Sometimes separate molds are required for | the hands, and those useful members must | be stuck on to the figure.
 A well-equipped image factory will have many hundred molds, to turn out figures l classical, medieval and modern. The fig | ures run i'll size from tiny images for parlor | ornaments to heroic statues. The number | of sacred images reaches into the hundreds 1 The most popular are Christ, the Virgin | Mary and St Joseph. These characters are
 represented in a dozen different sizes and l fifty attitudes. Our Lady of Lourdes IS
 another popular image. This saint is rep
 resented in many attitudes. St. Aloysius, Sb. V lHCeuI uc Idul ana Uuc mOrC recent Popes are also popular.
 | The costlieSt figures are made for church. l es. Some of them cost as much as S20O and | thousands are sold at $40, $50 and S6O each | Some are made for private families, who | have a chapel in the house. The sacred l figures vary in height from one to six feet | Most of them, however, are smaller than 1 life-size. The coloring runs all the way from subdued purples and delicate rose 1 pink to the most glaring reds and most in | tense blues. The cheapest figures are the
 gaudiest.
 The young artist ceased streaking with old
 gold small image of St. Joseph and paused
 to talk of his work. ''I learned the art,''
 said he, Gin this country, and was about
 two years and half at it. The work is pleasant and interesting, and not badly paid.
 1 can finish a figure like that one CThe Sacred HeartD in about a week There &s
 a good deal of gliding on that, as you see. That is a slower and moro troublesome art
 than painting. That little figure of the in- 1 fant Christ I could paint in few hours. | There is a figure of Christ standing on a
 blue earth that rolls through clouds. That
 is more difficult. Those figures of the Nir-
 gin in light pink and lilac garments are easy
 enough when the paints are once mixed.
 suppose more of these figures arc made in
 New York than in any other part of the
 country. They are sent from here to all
 parts of the United States. The costliest
 of such figures, however, come from France,
 where the greatest statues, ancient and
 modern, are reproduced in plaster of Paris,
 and thousands of sacred images are made
 to sell in all parts of Europe and America. ''