Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-16
Wizard of, Museum
Has a New Process

yT1HAT promises to be very interest
w ing development is being expert
mented with in the modelling shop OF
the National Museum. This is one of the
most interesting and least known Of the
many government workshops In Washing
ton. Here are turned out all sorts of coun-
terfeits of antiquities and perishable objects.
of which the museum either wants dupl!-
Gates to exchange or permanent models to
keep. Young H. W. Hendley. son of old
Wizard Jack Hendley. is the presiding
genius of the place, and what he cannot
turn out in the way of a plaster model.
from fantastic Cheriqui idol to an imita-
ton bunch of grapes, is hardly worth men
tioning.
One of the big jobs that the shop is
always engaged on when 1t is not doing
something else is modelling the heads of
various Indians that drift into Washington
on business with the Interior Department
and caught and turned over to the
bureau Of ethnology for preservation II
plaster. 1t is pretty work. and the museum
gets a lot of good models out of it, all
done in plaster and subsequently painted
up till they look like still-life portraits.
Mr.. Hendley is a genius not only u
IL
He has the trick of carrying color schemes
III his head the way most people carry
music. and when he gets through Sur
facing a plaster cast and painting it one
does not know the antique from the origi-
nal till they pick it up and feel the weight
There is a story told of him that while
at the st. Louis exposition he made a
cast of a stone ak for a man living there,
nnR 1nnly of hn ie;r
back to Washington, where he colored the
model and sent it back. When the two
were put side by side the owner said he
except by the weight. i,
However, this has only an indirect con-
nection with the new casting process that
Mr.. Hendley is developing. 1t consists in
the use Of paraff1ne for the mold, as 1t is
a surface that takes even finer impressions
than plaster Of paris. The method of TAX
ing plaster mold of the human face. or
of any other object for that matter. is toler-
ably familiar The plaster is put on in
almost liquid form and allowed to harden,
winch 1t does in few minutes. Then this
mold Is taken away from the object and
after being surfaced with shellac wet
plaster Is run into it and cast, the dupli-
cate of the original object, Is produced.
Plaster of paris will take fine impression
1t will reproduce the more pronounced tex
ture Of the human flesh. But when it
comes to very fine impressions the plaster
does not bite in.
Mr. Hendley has tried the paraffine pro-
cess on leaves and the most fragile surfaces
that would not even bear the weight of
plaster, and his new molds have worked
perfectly The paraffine is melted in a
basin, and while not too hot is SPRAYED
over the surface to be covered with an
ordinary shellac sprayer. The paraffine
spray almost cools while going through the
air and Is not hot enough when it lands to
burn even delicate flesh. thin coating of
paraffine is formed all over the object and
this process is repeated till there Is quite
thick film in place. OF course it would
be almost impossible to remove the paraf-
fine mold without breaking it. but the
paraffine is then covered with a LAYER of
plaster OF paris as thick as may be neces-
sary. and this gives body to the mold so
that 1t can be removed intact
plaster cast taken in such a mold re-
produces the most delicate lines imaginable
Some or the leaf casts that Mr. Hendley
has made are perfect down to the minutest
veining. and the process has the additional
advantage that the leaf may be nodded in
all Its natural curve and grace without
being fattened out and distorted as would