Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-09-24
CASTS OF PLASTER.
DESCRIPTION OF AN IMPORTANT CHI
CAGO INDUSTRY.

Chicago holds a place in the world of
art which very few people dream she pos
sesses. The western metropolis is the CEN
ter of trade Rnd the market for all the
decorative plaster cast work which Is used
10 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 in Chicago has an able COM
pettor 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
Venuses and Dianas did not learn his
trade in sunny Italy. 1t is not an impor.
tation from his native shores. The pretty
copies Of the beautiful and fantastic in art
are not breath of some great foreign ar
tistic atmosphere brought hero by the
scum of Roman and Milduese streets The
plaster works Of ava ou sale i'm Chicago are
an indigenous prod Vt the work of native
hands and native J.1Gtht
There arc at least ~ Cozcn firms in opera.
tion here, The work which they furnish
for the public Includes rot only the little
statuettes, has rcli,l- and busts which are
familiar to the yy:s of pcdcs trians i'm shop
windows, but also the extonsiVo 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 sculp
tors, and the castors.
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 def
touch and idcalistic thought they fashion
beautiful bits of work from the wet clay.
1t is a work Of upbuilding, of fashionina
from the lifeess clay the laughing head
of a woman or the sardOnical grin of q
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 designI
which the plastorers use as the matrices
of innumerable copies.
When tho model in clay is completed, IL
is laid aside for IS 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 az
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 shellao 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 oven
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
tho 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
manageable size Into it is poured the
liquid plaster, forming the head or arm OF
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 DO lost. When a model is made
In sections, the plaster imitation is glued
together to make the whole and then GOV
cred with shellac to protect it from soiling
by the dust and SCOT of the atmosphere.
! The workshop of the plaster molders is
a curious place. No machinery whatever
is used in the work. No gigantic wheels
or buzzing saws mako the room noisy
with their revolutions. Over in one corner
stand a stove and u big boiler, in which
the 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
are needed. Those used by the sculptor
are pieces Of fiat, highly polished wood,
9 or inches in length and very blunt.
Tools are also used upon the plaster cast
to round out sharp, harsh corners. These
are of metal, 10 inches in length, fiat,
pointed and fashioned with rows Of tiny
teeth on either side.
A certain kind of decorative work is
made by these plasterers which looks,
when completed, like wood. Instead Of
plaster, a kind of composition, the making
of which is a secret, is used. This oompo-
sition when dry is grained, admits of the
introduction of filling and is susceptible of
as high polish as any hard wood. Deco
rative work in this composition is used as
molding and other wall finishing, as the
caps of wooden columns and in all the
various phases Of interior or exterior fin
ish. 1t is durable resists the inclemency
Of the weather and does not cost as much
as the carved wood itself, and when COM
pleted cannot be distinguished from the
latter.-Chicago Times Herald.
His Taste Returned.