The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-07-01


Chicago holds place in the world of
art which very few people dream she pos
sesses. The western metropolis is the CEN
ter of trade and the market for all the
decorative plaster cast work which il used
in the country. Chicago not only supplies
the Mississippi valley and the west with
copies in plaster from the masters, but
nearly all of the east.
The trade i'm Chicago has an able com
petitor in Milwaukee in the kind of work
turned out, but no such amount of work
comes from the casting shops of that sister
city as is turned out here However, the
combined trade of Milwaukee and Chicago
manages to supply the demand of all the
United States and even that of England.
The dirty Italian peddler who goes from
house to house selling his little plaster
Nenuses and Dianas did not learn his
trade in sunny Italy. 1t is not All impor-
taton from his native shores. The pretty
copies of the beautiful and fantastic in art
are not a breath Of some great foreign ar
tistic atmosphere brought here by the
scum Of Roman and Milanese streets The
plaster works of art on sale i'm Chicago are
an indigenous product the work of native
hands and native thought.
There are at least dozen firms in opera
ton here. The work which they furnish
for the public includes not only the little
statuettes, bas-reliofs and busts which are
familiar to the eyes of pedestrians in shop
windows but also the extensive decorative
work in plaster used in the construction
of buildings.
The trade Of the decorative plasterer, as
this kind of artist is known, is simple, yet
interesting. The men employed are divid-
ed into two classes, the molders, or scup-
tors, and the casters.
The sculptors are men of ability. They
perform the most important work in clay.
They originate the designs and copy clay
figures from the great masters. With deft
touch and idealistic thought they fashion
beautiful bits of work from the wet clay.
1t is work of upbuilding. of fashioning
from the lifeless clay the laughing head
of n woman or the sardonical grin of
faun The sculptor works only in clay
and models with his blunt, fiat pencil
great panels and strips of graceful, decora-
tive work for the interior finish of build
ings On him hangs the responsibility and
on him depends all the success of the flu
ture work. He is the modeler of designs
which the plasterers use as the matrices
of innumerable copies.
is laid aside for 4S hours to dry. During
that time the water used in softening the
clay to make it malleable evaporates leav-
ing the work of the sculptor almost as
hard and durable as marble. This stage in
plaster work is called clay modelling.
The design Is now. ready. for the casters.
The clay model IS brushed with shellac and !
prepared for the covering of gelatin glue |
and the making Of the glue mold. The |
model is covered first with so called |
shell. This Is made of plaster and fits over |
the model like the full high cover of a fiat |
salad plate. An aperture is then made in |
the shell as it rests upon the model, and |
into this aperture the liquid gelatin glue |
is poured. 1t flows around the intricate
design of the model and is left overnight |
to harden.
In tho morning, when the shell is re-
moved, this glue mold has hardened and |
can itself be lifted entire from the clay |
model beneath. 1t bears on its underside
an exact imprint of the model, and it has
the consistency of piece of soft india
rubber. 1t is durable, however, and serves
as the mold from which the plaster casts
themselves are made.
Generally large clay models are taken
in sections, so that the glue mold is of
size. Into 1t is poured the
liquid plaster, forming the head or arm or
figure in plaster the exact counterpart Of
the clay.
The third stage, that of pouring the
plaster into the glue mold, requires GER
tain amount of dexterity and neatness,
for the material hardens quickly, and no
time can be lost. When model is made
In sections, the plaster imitation is glued
together to make the whole and then COW
cred with shellac to protect 1t from soiling
by the dust and SCOT of the atmosphere.
The workshop of the plaster molders Is
a curious place. machinery whatever
is used in the work. No gigantic wheels
Or buzZing saws make tho room noisy
with their revolutions. Over in one corner
stand q stove and big boiler, in which
tho glue is melted. This is the only i'm
plement, besides the tiny tools, which is
brought into a work that is essentially a
work of the hands.
The tools are as rude and immature as
those of the aborigines. Yet no other tools
ire needed. Those used by the sculptor
are pieces of fat, highly polished wood,
or inches in length and very blunt
Tools are also used upon the plaster cast
20 round out sharp, harsh corners. These
are of metal, 10 inches in length, fat
pointed and fashioned with rows of tiny
Jeeth on either side.
A certain kind of decorative work Is
made by these plasterers which looks,
when completed, like wood. Instead of
plaster, kind of composition, the making
If which is "a secret, is used. This compo-
'ition when dry is grained, admits of the
of filling and is susceptible of
Is high polish as any hard wood. Deco
'ative work in this composition Is used as
holding and other wall finishing, as the
APPS of wooden columns and in all the
various phases of interior or exterior fin
sh. 1t Is durable, resists the inclemency
If the weather and does not cost as much
rs the carved wood itself, and when COM