The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-01-18
BIG BRONZE STATUES.
Some of the Complications En-
countered in Casting Them.
Where Some of the Largest American
Figures i'm This Metal Are Located
The Process of Their Con-
struction-

Few have any idea of the difficulty of
casting a large bronze statue. The
popular idea l. that molten bronze X
poured into mold. and then. when
the metal has cooled the mold i
knocked off and the statue l. complete
How much more elaborate Il the proc
ess. saws the New York World. may
be gathered from the following deScrip-
| tion Of the casting Of a large bronz,.
statue in one piece: After the plaster
model has been obtained from the. ar
| tiSt IL Il laid upon a frame and built
up all over with a reddish sand. which
il peculiarly fitted for the purpose he
cause Of it, coheSiveneSs when worked
and OF its stony hardness when dry. 1t
Il imported from France. the best com
ing from Fontenoy-aux-RoSes. about
sixteen miles from Paris
This building-up process l. not -
easy as IL sounds. for the sand has To be
applied in little chunks. varying in size
but all fitting snugly together. - that
they can be taken apart when the i'm
precision Il complete and the mold Is
dry
In an elaborate casting there will he
from fifteen hundred TO two Thousand
Of these pieces. all Of which must Toe
be imperfect The most noticeable
feature in bronze foundry l. the num-
ber of worl1Inen employed in cutting
up little chunks of the sand and care
fully and tenderly fitting them around
the plaster model These yvorlzmen.
10y the way. are imported along with
the sand, the majority Of them being
French
The blocks OF sand being dry. they
are carefully taken of the cast one bv
one and a. carefully refitted- This l.
the mold II l. then filled with clay.
and when the clay l. dry the little
blocks forming the mold are again uu-
fitted and fac-simile Of the plaster
east Il obtained Then comes the most
delicate part of the work. The clav
model has To toe reduced bv >cra ping un-
til II II an exact but slightly smaller
copy Of the plaster model. for a quar-
ter of an inch has To be taken of it,
entire surface. and the difficulty of do
ing this can be imagined. especially
when the subject Il n all ornate A.
suming the reduction of the clay core -
a. II Il technically termed To Ice Satis-
factory the core II introduced into the
mold. which has again been put to-
Eether- and there l. naturally a space
OF quarter of an inch between tbs. eN-
terror of the core and the interior Il
the mold The core is STAYED with
iron rods - that II remains rigid in the
center Of the mold and the glowing
molten bronze i poured IN from th.
top and completely fills up the space
between the core and the mold: after
II has cooled the mold l. removed and
the clay interior extracted. and the.
statue l. revealed somewhat rough. II
l. true but very nearly as IL viii APP
pear before the public
The AStor doors Of Trinity church
took three years To complete. a good
contrast To which may be found. a. re-
CARDS time Of execution. in the Wash
inEton statue in front Of the subtreaS-
ury on Wall street. which was com
pleted IN six weeks and two DAYS.
Speaking Of the Washington statue.
every one has no ticed the bright color
or ''patina." a. il l. called. Of the lers
Of the Father Of His Country. while the.
rest Of the body l. as grimy a. all the
other bronze statues in New York city
This Is due To the rubbing of the
shoulders of street boys and loaferS
The founders of the statue Sav they
would make them handsome present
If they would rub the rest of the great
mans body. for a '-patina- acquired In
this way l. superior to any that can IL,
given artificially.
The statue that gave the most trouble
To the founders. and at the same timt.
l. one OF the most artistic and beauti-
full specimens Of bronze casting in the.
country II Mr. J . y Wards statue
of President Garfield in Washington
The nude figures around the statue are
responsible for the difficulty Of casting.
The alloy commonly used for statue
casting consists OF ninety parts copper
seven tin and three zine: that used 10y
the ancient Greeks being eighty cop
per and twenty tin At the time Of
PauSanias they were the first to do any
bronze casting: previously articles of
ornament were made 10y riveting sheets
| of bronze together in the same way
that the statue Of Liberty is construct
/ ed