The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-11-24
SHAPES IN BRONZE
Some Of the Complications En-
countered in Casting Them.
Where Some of the Largest American
Figures in This Metal Are Located
The Process of Their Con-
struction.

Few have any idea of the difficulty OF
;asting q large bronze statue. The
popular idea is that molten bronze is
poured into mold, and then, when
The metal has cooled, the mold is
Knocked off and the statue is complete
how much more elaborate is the proc
.ss, says the New York World, may
pc gathered from the following descrip-
ion of the casting of a large bronze
statue ip one piece: After the plaster
model has been obtained from the ar
list it is laid upon a frame and built
I'D all over with a reddish sand, which
S peculiarly fitted for the purpose be-
.ause of it's cohesiveness when worked
md of its stony hardness when dry. 1t
s imported from France, the best com
ing from Fontenoy-aux-Roses, about
sixteen miles from Paris.
This building-up process is not so
Easy as it sounds, for the sand has to be
applied in little chunks, varying in size
but all fitting snugly together, SO that
they can be taken apart when the I'M
preston is complete and the mold Is
dry.
In an elaborate casting there will be
rom fifteen hundred to two thousand
IF these pieces, all of which must he
accurately adjusted, or the casting will
be imperfect. The most noticeable
feature IN a bronze foundry is the num-
Der of workmen employed in cutting
40 little chunks of the sand and care
July and tenderly fitting them around
the plaster model. These workmen,
py the way, are imported along with
The sand, the majority of them being
French.
The blocks of sand being dry, they
ire carefully taken off the cast one by
pne, and as carefully refitted. This is
the mold. 1t is then filed with clay,
md when the clay is dry the little
blocks forming the mold are again un-
fitted, and fac-simile of the plaster
east is obtained. Then comes the most
delicate part of the work. The clay
model has to be reduced by scraping IN
Ill it is an exact but slightly smaller
copy of the plaster model, for quar-
ter of an inch has TO be taken off its
entire surface, and the difficulty of do
ing this can be imagined, especially
when the subject is at all ornate. AS
suming the reduction of the clay core,
as it is technically termed, to be salts
factory, tie core is introduced into the
mold, which has again been put to-
gether, and there is naturally space
of quarter of an inch between the e1-
terror of the core and the interior OF
the mold. The core is stayed with
iron rods SO that it remains rigid in the
center of the mold, and the glowing
molten bronze is poured in from the
top and completely fills up the space
between the core and the mold; after
IL has cooled the mold is removed and
the clay interior extracted, and the
statue is revealed, somewhat rough, II
Is true, but very nearly as 1t Will ap'
pear before the public
The Astor doors OF Trinity church
took three years to complete. good
contrast to which may be found, as re
CARDS time OF execution, in the Wash
inpton statue in front of the subtreas
ury on Wall street, which was com
pleted in six weeks and two days
Speakinr of the Washington statue
every one has Cticed the bright color
or ''patina," as it is called. of the leg
OF the Father of His Country, while th'
rest OF the body is as grimy rs all th'
other bronze statues in New York city
This is due TO the rubbing OF tn
shoulders of street boys and loafers
The founders of the statue say the.
would make them handsome presen
if they would rub the rest of the grea
mans body. for a ''patina' acquired IL
this way is superior TO any that can b
given artifcially.
The statue that gave the most troubl
10 the founders, and at the same tim
Is one of the most artistic and beauti
FIJI specimens of bronze casting in tn
country. is Mr.. J. .. A. Wards statu
of President Garfield, in Washington
The nude figures around the statue ar
responsible for the difficulty of casting
The alloy commonly used for statue
casting consists of ninety parts copper
seven tin and three zinc; that used b
the ancient Greeks being eighty COZ
per and twenty tin. At the time c
Pausanias they were the first to do an
bronze casting; previously articles c
ornament were made by riveting sheet
Of bronze together in the same wa
that the statue of Liberty is construc