Omaha daily bee., 1897-12-27
MANUFACTURE OF "STAFF"
Eow the Stuff is Made Which is to Cover
Exposition Buildings.
TAKES ON RAPE AND BEAUTIFUL FORMS
sisde,s Must First De shade and Then
TIE Nouids, After which the
Forms Are Cast Tn
Plaster.

The making of stan work or stucco, Whlch
Is to form the QUITE covering and decoration
of the beautiful buildings at the exposition,
giving them the appearance OF having been
chiseled out of the finest marbles and other
building stone. is a process which Is little
understood by the general public, but which
is OF more than passing interest to those
who have an opportunity Of witnessing the
many operations involved in turning out the
completed casts.
Tho contracts for the stan work on the
large exposition buildings in the main court
are nearly all In the hands Of Smith q
Eastman, experienced contractors in this
line who did large amount Of the work
on the Worlds fair buildings and who Lave
done similar work on many of .he largest
buildings In this country, prominent among
them being the headquari ars building OF the
State, War and Navy departments In Wash
ington, one of the largest buildings OF its
kind In the world. Tn Sc contractors have
two shops, cne just outside the exposition
grounds near Sherman avenue and Pink
ney street, and the other in the Mines build,
ing, inside the main court. IN thu Sc two
shops the casts are made which are to trans
form the huge frames being erected about
the Lagoon into palaces Of beauty decorated
with all the lavishness wnien characterized
the most stately architectural piles of the
ancient world
The shop outside the grounds is devoted
entirely to the modelers and pattern makers
who prepare the patterns and moulds from
which the casts placed upon the buildings
are made. These casts are ali made In the
shop in the Mines building A visit to the
modelling shop the latter part CT last week
found the workmen engaged In making some
of the patterns for the STAN work which is
TO decorate the Agricultural building The
ornamentaticn of this building is not cnly
very ornate and elaborate but it is decidedly
unique and original. Architect Cass Gilbert
of st. Paul designed this magnificent build
ing and originated its decoration. in 50
doing he utilized the vegetable and animal
life of an agricultural community and
adapted 1t to his purpose. The result is a
character OF decoration which will be most
attractive as we'll as artistic Ii necessi-
tates, however on the part of the staff work
tremendous amount of new work in
making the models for the casts. Ordinarily
the classic forms of decoration can be
adapted to the occasion with little altara
tion, but in this case complete patterns must
be built up from the beginning. The same
is true to large extent CT the iecOra:io
of the other main buildings. the decoration
of the Machinery and Electricity building
for instance, being formed of cog wheels
pinions, incandescent lamps, swit2hec ant
many other things peculiar to the two sci
ences to be displayed in the building. Al
of these require complete new sets OF pat
terms, SD that the decorations of all ;he mair
buildings will he peculiar to the Transm!esis
sippi Exposition and not a repetition of Sc
architectural designs.
IN THE MODELLING SHOP.
To return to the modelling shop, the frs
thirg striking the eye of the visitor wa
a modeler In clay engaged in making
pattern for the keystone which is to crow
the arch over the main entrance to the Agri
culture building. large plaster keyston
OF handsome design. measuring fully tw
and one-half feet across at the top and abou
three feet in height, had been utilized
base on which to build up the striking or
namert which will attract the attention 0
visitors to the big building This ornamen
was nothing more nor less than big tur
key gobbler, life size, with tail outsprea
and wings dropping, looking for all the worl
as though he was preparing to gtep dow
from his perch and strut about amorg tn
chickens, ducks, geese and other barnyar
fowls, which were lying around or alb side
in counterfeit presentment, done" in stat
and ready to take their places on the Agrl
culture building. This keystone will crow
the arch of the main entrance only an
hut one cast CT it will be used, but the model
ing process is the same though a hun
dred goholers were to be mounted on tn
building to add to the picturesqueness
the scene.
A second modeler was engaged on gai
land of fruits, hanging in graceful fes
times on the building. The original mode
was being formed of clay ON a board, tn
various articles of fruit composing 1t, lik
the gobbler. being formed of the plastic ella
with the fingers, aided by two or three cur
ously shaped tools. The clay used by thee
workmen is the ordinary potter's clay. Th
gumbo so plentiful in this locality was trie
by the modeiers, but was found to be tc
sticky and was discarded.
Other modelers were engaged in maxim
fn,. ita1- for
umns which will form a part Of the dec
ration OF the Agricultural building and of tt
columns themselves. AS rule the standaI
types of capitals and columns of the wariol
schools of architecture can be used for pa
terms with slight changes in the detail
the decoration. The type Of capital is s.
lected and the desired changes are mac
with clay For the plain portions of the co
nices the patterns are made of wood and
many case2 the mculds from which Il
corrice is made are also made Of wood al
the staff moulded In this.
I'm another room the moulds are mat
from which as many plaster casts as a
necessary may be made. These moulds a
made of a preparation OF glue and geati
which is eomewhat eh,Gtic and this great
removes the 6auger OF breaking the cast
removing the mould in case any ''unde
cuts" occur in the model Cn account
the plastic nature OF these mouds they a
reinforced by plaster backs, the whole ma
ing very bulky affair.
MAKING THE CASTS.
After the mouds are made they are TAX
20 the large shop in the Mines buildiI
where the casts are made, THIS shop
about $50 feet in length and about fifty fe
wide 1t has a low roof and is light
dimly by skylights. About thirty men a
employed in this shop. "a mould is laid
low table and covered with light coati
of oil to prevent the plaster from stckir
Two workmen then take huge pan abo