Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-06-24
MAKING STATUES
LIFELIKE REPRODUCTIONS IN
BEAUTIFUL COLD MARBLE.
How Clay Models and Plaster Casts
Are Made - Instruments Tor
Reproducing In Stone-
Pointer and Drill.
"ARvING a statue is like cook ing


Angelo and other master.hands have cut
a finished statue direct from the marble
block without the aid of copy of any
sort, though this was remarkable feat
even for them.
The clay model may be considered
the basis of all the artists work. 1t is
made, whenever possible, from the living
model in plastic clay, with the aid of the
fingers and few simple wooden or horn
knives. When the subject is dead or
absent death masks and photographs are
the artists guide. While this work is
perhaps not the highest order of art, it
requires more than a mere initiative
faculty of eye and hand. The moods
and temperament of the subject have to
be studied and emphasized to save the
work from degenerating from a living
likeness into a mere dead model.
The final marble is not copied from
the clay, no Sever, as that is au unsatis-
factory substance from which to work,
and between the two stages of the work
a plaster cast has to intervene. But
from an artistic point of view there is a
liveliness and expression about the first
clay model that the cast never shows,
which has given rise to the artists saying
that the "clay is the life, plaster the
death and marble the resurrection"
For taking the plaster cast what is
known as a "piece mold" is made. The
cast is divided into sections, over each
of which a plaster mold from two 20
four inches thick is made. These when
fastened together form a hollow mold
into which the fluid plaster of paris is
poured. When this hardeus the outer
crust is broken away and the white, firm
cast stands forth ready to be copied by
the carver. Some artists do their own
carving from the frs. rough block, but
in most cases the rougher work is turred
over to a skilled mechanic, who chips
the work down almost to size, leaving
only what is known as the skin finish to
be done by the artist. Indeed, such is
the skill of some of the Italian workmen
that they will turn out a finished copy
of any cast given to them without the
artist so much as touching a chisel.
But this copying of the cast in stone
is by no means a matter of the eye alone
1t is measured with mathematical ac-
curacy in every part by an ingenious de-
vice known as "pointer." This is an
upright rod standing on a firm base and
carrying two sliding arms with num-
Der OF ball and socket joints, which can
be turned and clamped 10 any direction,
and, like the claw of a lobster. can be
made to touch any point within its own
radius. In the end Of each of the pointer
arms is set needle graduated to frac-
tions Of an inch and moving in a collar
VITA set screw so that it can be
clamped at any point.
The plaster cast that is to be copied {,
resting on a square pedestal, is placed
on a revolving platform like the turn
table of a railroad, and alongside of it,
resting on a similar pedestal, is placed
the rough block of marble from which
the statue is to be made. The pointer
is set between them aud the needle in
the upper arm adjusted to read to zero
and brought to bear on some prominent
point of the cast, say the nose. The
lower arm is adjusted to an arbitrary
point on the pedestal, and the CORE
spending point is found on the pedestal
bearing the marble block. The pointer
arms are then swung round till the lower
one bears on the mark and the upper one
touches the marble block, which is larger,
of course, than the finished statue, and
the distance which the graduated needle
is pushed back through its collar shows
how much of this surplus or "stock" is
to be cut away to reach the point where
the nose of the statue is to begin. This
point is marked, and with the bow drill
Il hole is drillel into the block to within
one sixteenth OF what is to be the fin
ished surface of the statue, as shown by
the reading of the needle. Several SINH
lar points are then taken over all the
prominent features and the work Of
rcughing out is begun.
ut OOW uilit 10 a iuOob lliuitiNS III
strument and is practically the same as
has been used for ages by savage tribes
for the production Of fire as we'll as in the
mechanic arts. Its simplicity is its rec
ommeudation, and in practiced hand it
can be made to do very delicate work.
The general roughing out of the face
is done to make sure that there are no
black veins in the block that will show
upon the surface of the finished work,
and if any are discovered the block has
either to be turned and the face worked
out of a new part of it or else it is dis
carded altogether.
There are insurance companies that
make business of guaranteeing the
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