Plaster cast

“ For plaster casting, a squeeze should be heated on a stove and brushed over with melted paraffin, or better wax, sufficient to cover the face without choking the finer detail. Before each cast the face should be lightly oiled with a tuft of wool. ”

“ A certain appreciation, however, of the real value of a good plaster-cast has been gaining among us of late years, and many public schools, especially in the large cities, have been establishing standards of good taste in this respect. ”

“ A plaster cast is heavy, expensive and easily injured; but plaster gives an accurate copy of the original, retains permanently the form given it, and is easily finished and repaired. The weight is an obstacle that can be easily overcome. By the incorporation in the plaster of fine tow, or of bagging or netting of various kinds, the cast can be made very light and at the same time strong, but the expense is increased rather than diminished by this method. ”

“ Plaster-casting in General
It is not a difficult matter to reproduce in plaster almost any object that has no undercut or parts that will not easily detach from a mould. When making them, the first thing to do is to get a piece of board about a foot square; that is to work on, so as not to soil the table. Then you want a lump of clay about as big as a football, five or six pounds of plaster of Paris—it only costs three cents a pound—and a half-dozen wooden pegs. ”

“ Modern facilities have greatly abridged the personal labor of the sculptor in marble or bronze. The present method of casting in plaster, which was then unknown, or at least unpracticed, enables the sculptor of our days to elaborate his work to the utmost finish, in its full size, in the clay model; and when this is completed and cast in such a permanent material as plaster, the workman has an absolute model, which he may, to a certain extent, copy with almost mathematical accuracy. ”

“ When the pieces are not exactly round, and cannot be thrown or pressed on jiggers, it is the custom to have them made in plaster moulds, which have been cast on models prepared for the purpose. As long as the clay keeps soft, it takes the shape of any hard substance against which it is pressed, and for that reason, plaster, which has the property of absorbing moisture readily, is preferred. ”

“ When the newly introduced plaster is set the mould is carefully knocked away with chisels, and a true cast appears beneath, giving an entire fac-simile of the original model. Some skill is required in making moulds, in order to provide for projecting parts and under-cuttings; practice alone can teach the artist how to deal with those difficulties when they occur. The above general instructions sufficiently explain the ordinary processes of moulding and casting in plaster. ”

“ PLASTER IS SENSITIVE to moisture, and should be kept in a dry place. If plaster does not set within a short time it probably is old and even if it does set in time it will have a tendency to pulverize. It is always safer to purchase an entire sack than to purchase a small lot from the hardware dealer, grocer, or druggist, for the chances are that his plaster has been exposed in a bin so long that its strength has vanished. This is mentioned because instances have been known where trouble in cast making was traced to just such conditions. ”

“ Well, the vaulting ribs, as in Giotto's vault, then, have here, under their painting, this rude profile: but do not suppose the vaults are simply the shells cast over them. Look how the ornamental borders fall on the capitals! The plaster receives all sorts of indescribably accommodating shapes—the painter contracting and stopping his design upon it as it happens to be convenient. You can't measure anything; you can't exhaust ”

“ When very large objects that would require a great deal of plaster are cast, they are generally made hollow in the following manner:
Obtain the glue mould by the process described, and into it pour a quantity of thin plaster, having first oiled the surfaces that come in contact with it. Turn the mould about and upside down, so the plaster will enter every part and adhere to the glue form. ”

“ The slightest change in the surface of a cast impairs its value, and the problem is consequently to provide a method of filling the pores of the plaster that will make it less subject to dust while in no wise altering its form, and to provide a method of removing dirt without injury to the surface. ”

“ The explanation of this is undoubtedly that casting in plaster having been then just invented, and being very imperfect in its development, he was accustomed at once to rough out his large statues from small sketches in terra cotta, after the probable practice of the ancients. This obliged him personally to do with his own hand much of the hard work which now, with the increased facilities of the art and the perfecting of plaster-casting, can safely be left to an ordinary workman; at all events, there are no full-sized models existing of his great works. ”

“ The painted plaster casts were so lifelike that they recalled the fish in his own Chinese waters. The Museum was to that Chinaman an object-lesson.
Now I am certain that if boys or girls knew how to make plaster-of-Paris fish look like the real ones, it would not alone be an interesting occupation, but an instructive one.
I have explained how the plaster is to be mixed. It is better to buy the plaster in small quantity, not more than a pound at a time. It should be kept in a well-closed glass preserving jar. ”

“ He was eighty-five when he died. This plaster mask 122of Bentham has been compared carefully with the wax effigy in University College. The mouth, the cranial arch, the entire upper part of the face, and the general shape of the head are very like, although in the wax mask the chin is shorter and rounder, and the eyes, of course, are open.
The mask of Rossetti was made by Brucciani, after death. Only three or four copies were cast, and the mould is in the possession of Mr. ”

“ Plaster casts are easily broken and certain parts, such as the interior of the mouth, cannot readily be produced. Further, it is not desirable in natural history collections to exhibit casts of the objects when the originals can be displayed. ”

“ Minna never mentioned it, and I dared not propose it for fear of bringing back painful recollections. But we often went to see the excellent collection of plaster casts, in which antique art is so well represented in all its stages. ”

“ Plaster, or stucco, is sometimes regarded as an inferior material only to be used when nothing better can be obtained. It should not however be judged from the achievements of the domestic plasterer of to-day, who has to trust sometimes to the wall-paper to keep his stuff from crumbling away. Plaster as used by the ancients, and through a good part of the mediaeval and Renaissance periods up to the eighteenth century, is a fine material, susceptible of very varied and effective artistic treatment. ”

“ Plaster moulds were also used for moulding pottery lamps. The oiling of plaster was done on painted plaster statuettes, so as to make them waterproof. They can still be scrubbed in water without disturbing the colour.
The most artistic use of plaster was for the modelled heads, which were placed on mummy cases in Roman times. Though most such works were rather crude, some are found which show real ability of portraiture. In fig. 135 we have a sympathetic study of the face of a young man. The lips are beautifully true, the modelling of the cheek is quite natural, the nose and brow well formed ”

“ They deserve a detailed notice because they prove, as do most Moorish works, that plaster may be used truthfully and artistically, and that without any approach to the contemptible effect which the imbecility and dishonesty of the nineteenth-century designers of plaster-work have contrived to impress on almost all their productions. ”

“ XV. Evidently, then, painting, confessedly such, is no deception; it does not assert any material whatever. Whether it be on wood or on stone, or, as will naturally be supposed, on plaster, does not matter. Whatever the material, good painting makes it more precious; nor can it ever be said to deceive respecting the ground of which it gives us no information. To cover brick with plaster, and this plaster with fresco, is, therefore, perfectly legitimate; and as desirable a mode of decoration, as it is constant in the great periods. ”

“ The part where the artist decides to begin his work is uncovered, that is to say, a portion of the paper is turned down and cut away, but in such a manner that it may be replaced. Then the plasterer puts fresh plaster, about an eighth of an inch thick, upon the uncovered portion of the wall, and the plasterer’s work is of the utmost importance in fresco painting. ”

“ Foliage and ornamental work in plaster is made by modelling the ornaments by hand, in a proper kind of clay, worked by steel or wooden tools, resembling small spatulas in form. To do this requires a taste and skill in drawing or designing in the workman, which raises him to the rank of an artist. When the model is finished and dry, the surface of it is covered with a thin coat of oil, and a mould of fine plaster is taken from it in separate pieces. ”

“ IT IS THEN POURED PROMPTLY into the center of the space on the glass prepared for the plaster tile so that the poured plaster gradually spreads from the center toward the corners and edges filling up the spaces and coming up the sides to about one-half inch height. Jarring the table or a slight shaking of the glass will cause the plaster to settle very level as well as causing any bubbles in the plaster to rise to the surface and break. Care should be taken that the plaster is not too thick before being poured. ”

“ Plastering is also carried to a perfection in Italy, of which we have very little idea in this country; rooms are so exquisitely finished, that no additional work in the shape of house-painting is required; but the polish of the plaster, and its evenness of tint, are such as to rival those of the finest porcelain. Sometimes the plaster is fluted, or various designs are executed in intaglio upon it, in the most beautiful manner. ”

“ It does not seem, however, to be the portrait of a dead man, being full of living expression, and it is, perhaps, an enlarged reproduction of the face in the miniature by Pine of Bath, now in the Garrick Club, the eyes having the same dilatation of pupil which was characteristic of the great actor.
The mask here shown was purchased in 1876 from the late Mr. Marshall, the antiquarian dealer in Stratford, who possessed what he believed to be its pedigree written in pencil on the back of the plaster, and now unfortunately defaced. ”

“ Rough places in plaster take more color than a smooth wall, hence they are liable to show spots; so it stands you in hand to make such places smooth as possible; to do this take off the rough sand with sandpaper and knife or trowel on a thin coat of plaster paris, or give the rough places an extra coat or two or size. Fill all cracks and holes, and give the filling time to dry before putting on the size, because otherwise it will take more color than the balance of the wall and your work will look spotted. ”

“ Architects and those interested in the erection of new houses have frequently looked upon the application of plaster as one of the greatest drawbacks of modern building, showing, besides, a marked deterioration from old plaster-work, such as that found on walls of ancient buildings, some of which, of a highly decorative character, may still be found almost as sound as when first executed. ”

“ Casting in plaster. This is a mode of copying applied to a variety of purposes: to produce accurate representations of the human form—of statues—or of rare fossils—to which latter purpose it has lately been applied with great advantage. In all casting, the first process is to make the mould; and plaster is the substance which is almost always employed for the purpose. ”

“ My attempt is seen under every disadvantage; it is too near the eye and too near the light; and it is painted on a material which is most ungracious for the reception of colour. The minute undulations of marble always lose something in a plaster reproduction, but when the plaster has further to be painted with four coats of oil paint to stop the suction, it may readily be imagined how much the more delicate modulations of the surface will suffer. ”

“ It is common for the young sculptors of our day to scorn and sneer at any work that is offered to them which they think beneath that skill and capacity which they suppose themselves to possess; and they will not, as they say, abase themselves to mere work in plaster. If any one orders of them a bust or a statue in plaster, their pretence is so excessive that they deem it an insult. Now, I say the material counts for nothing; and a plaster statue merely for decoration, well executed, is worth more than a statue in marble or bronze which is ill executed. ”

“ Still earlier specimens of the plasterer's skill are extant in the pargeted and ornamented fronts of half-timbered houses With regard to the smaller buildings, comprising small dwelling-houses and cottages, the general application of plaster is of comparatively late date, for wainscoted walls and boarded ceilings or naked joists alone are frequently found in houses of not more than a century old both in England and on the Continent. ”