MAKING MOULDS OR SQUEEZES FOR WOOD-CARVERS.

It will very soon become apparent to every wood-carver that it is easier to copy from a model than a drawing, and that this ease is very much increased when he has made that model in clay himself. However, it is also very advisable that he shall, after a time, practise carving from drawings and sketches also, as this of itself gives great skill and accuracy of perception. But he will very often need or wish to have copies of carvings or casts, and these he may obtain with ease, if the relief be not too great or the object too large. This is called “taking a squeeze,” and it may be done in two ways. Firstly, by means of squeezing or modelling wax, which is sold by dealers in artists’ materials. The use of this and the casting in plaster of Paris is, however, generally tiresome to beginners in carving. For all practical purposes squeezes in paper are quite sufficient.

Paper squeezes. Take any pieces of soft newspaper. Oil the wood or plaster cast which you wish to copy; soak, and then press on the paper and, with your fingers and a sponge or a very stiff brush, poke and squeeze it into every cranny of the original. If this be done thoroughly, the hardest part of the work is accomplished. Now give the paper a brush of flour-paste or gum or mucilage, or paste strengthened with glue, and press on new pieces of paper. To merely copy the original, a few thicknesses will suffice. Take the squeeze off and let it dry; if necessary, touch it up with colour. For this the first coat should be of white paper. To make a cast, keep adding paper till the whole is at least half an inch in thickness. Press it as hard as you can while forming the mould. When it is dry you can paint or rub the inside with any dry powder, such as whiting, or varnish it, and then make a cast with the same material, i.e. paper and paste, or with plaster of Paris. Papier-machÉ casts, when rubbed by hand with brown paint, form perfect facsimiles of old wood-work. Rubbed with bronze-powders they resemble metals, or they may be ivoried, by the process described in the chapter on dyes.

Plaster-casts are very easily broken, and are heavy and difficult to transport. Wax is spoiled almost by a touch, and it readily yields to heat. Papier-machÉ, when properly managed, with a little practice gives a mould which is equal to either for all surfaces except the most minutely delicate. When dry, such casts may be let fall, or really thrown about, without sustaining any injury, and they are very portable. It is very often possible to easily copy an object with paper when plaster or wax cannot be used at all. The reason why it is not more generally used is because few persons have taken the pains to treat it as a plastic material suitable to the arts, or are sufficiently practised in it to know what can really be done with it. The wood-carver should do this, because it is a very important thing for him to keep copies of his works, or to get those of others to use in his designs. With a little practice, and at no expense, he can make such casts in a material which is almost as durable as wood itself.

In large manufactories of papier-machÉ the pulp of paper is simply mixed with the paste or size, and put into the moulds in large masses, and then subjected to pressure. When a good surface is secured with fine white paper, it is not of much consequence how coarse the paper for the backing may be. For this purpose it may be mixed with tow or fibre of any kind, plaster, or fine sawdust, etc., so long as the binder or size be only strong enough to hold all together. But for all ordinary purposes waste-paper and paste, thickened with common glue, will suffice.