717

NYONE starting for the first time as a sculptor must be struck by the extreme simplicity of the material and the ease with which the rudiments of the art are to be learnt. A lump of soft clay, a board to put it upon, and a few wooden tools of most simple shapes-these, and a bit of sponge, and your own fingers are really all that is necessary to produce a result. When the result has been attained, and the work has been modelled, then no doubt there are a few things to learn to enable you to transpose your work-which now exists in soft material-into a hard and more durable substance, either into stone, plaster, or terra cotta. There is no good in disguising the fact that to carve properly, a strong arm and a firm grasp are required, and that is not consistent with a woman's more delicate frame. She may console herself though with the reflection that there are many man sculptors who do not do their own carving, so she will not be exceptional if she employs help to perform that part for which she is not fitted.

In earlier days it would have been almost impossible for ladies to take up the profession of a sculptor, as we have reason to believe that the clay model was much less depended upon, the statue in marble being worked from small sketches or models, and not so elaborately pointed up, or so dependant for its general form upon mechanism as now. With all this great difference it is still a pity for a man who is able, not to carve or finish his marble work himself, and in fact our best work has been produced by the sculptor's own chisel; it is, however, considered legitimate help, and a lady would be perfectly justified in employing assistance in that branch of the art.

You will find that although the rudiments are so easily learned, the art of modelling will not appear so very easy; and if you love your work, you will find

there is more and more to learn, and the knowledge will gradually dawn upon you that sculpture is not merely a copy of what you see, but rather a free translation. It is easier certainly to produce a show in this art than in painting, that is, it requires a less skilled artist to reach to a certain point in the one than in the other; but that being the case, it is equally certain that it requires greater art to put individuality into sculpture than into painting, and to touch the deeper chords of human nature, for that which helps you at the commencement of your career, namely, the simplicity of your materials, impedes you as you march onward, and makes it very difficult for you to impress your thoughts into it. You have form, and form alone, to deal with, color being entirely excluded. (The question of polychromy is not alluded to here, as the color employed by the Greeks was especially unrealistic and decorative in its character.) Sculpture, therefore, is one step further off life than her sister art, and it requires more imagination both to enjoy it thoroughly and to practice it to perfection.

To prove that form is more rarely appreciated than color, we would instance the general opinion of faces that we meet at an assembly. Ask why a certain face pleases more than another, and the answer will be generally one based on complexion and expression rather than on form. Now complexion is impossible to render in sculpture, and in the power of expression the art is exceedingly limited; the subtle changings, the exquisite language of the eye, being entirely outside th province of sculpture.

We will assume now that you are not troubling yourself about the limits of a sculpture's art, that you are not going into the abstruse question of Lessing's Lacoon, about what can and what cannot be done, nor are dreaming at present of ranking with Fnidias, Michael Angelo, and the other giants, but are simply

anxious to do your little in the modeller's art, and would be glad if all unnecessary difficulties were cleared for you.

A few axioms may be useful at starting.

1. Do not be afraid of making a muss; the corollary naturally follows, do not work on a carpeted floor, or mother and aunts will "go "for you with righteous indignation; therefore select a room where you can do as you like, see only that it has a good light, either a high side-light (blocking out the lower) or a skylight, the former being better because less flattering to your work; a room to the north or north-east is preferable in order to avoid the sun.

2. Work with soft clay, and have a sponge by your side to keep your fingers from sticking, and let the clay you put on be softer than that on which you work. The principle of modelling, as opposed to carving, is, that in the first you put on, and in the latter you take off.

3. Use your fingers as much as you can, and let your tools be as simple as possible-more like a continuation of fingers, as if Nature had provided you with two or three smaller and larger ones. Let them be slightly curved, just as your fingers when much used, will of themselves assume a backward turn.

4. Be sure you consider the question of weight and balance when arranging your supports, or one fine morning you may see your work, when far advanced, lying on the floor. If you anticipate baking when the work is done, you must either have no supports at all, or place them in such a manner, that you can easily remove them when the clay is tolerably hard, without injuring the surface of your work.

5. All clay bakes, some harder than others, but terra cotta merely means baked clay.

6. In working from life, depend as little as possible upon measurements; rely upon the eye. and so cultivate it.

"These few precepts in the memory see thou character," to quote the wordly-wise Polonius.

In working from life you should also try to have your sitter very much in the same light as your work, for light and shade are most important factors, and you will find that the relative proportions of shadow were wonderfully understood in the best Greek work, and in fact in all good work, two equal shadows never being near to each other.

In addition to clay, you can also use wax for modelling; it has the advantage of being much cleaner, but still we should not recommend it, as clay admits of freer and quicker work, and the end is attained with more facility. English clay bakes about the same color as when moist. The French is dark grey, and bakes a light reddish hue. Besides the essentials-clay, tools, and a board-you will find it more convenient to have a

proper stand, or banker, as it is called, with a revolving top, so that you may easily turn your model around, for it is most important not to work too long at one viewit is the fault of a painter when first learning to model. Your sitters, too, you should make as comfortable as you can, so that you are not worried by their not being at their ease; an office revolving chair on a raised dais is perhaps the best contrivance you have while modelling in the round, to take relief into consideration, but this though often tried at starting, we should not recommend at first. It has difficulties of its own, which, when understood, might hamper you when afterward modelling from the round. These difficulties of treatment would be soon overcome when you had learned how to model at all.

One great advantage a sculptor has over a painter is that he can take advantage of artificial lighting. We can thus throw the light where we will; for, although work will, and should, look better in a certain light, it should not look wrong in any. It does not matter very much what you choose to model first: no doubt you will select something difficult, but will soon discard it for some more simple form. A foot, or a hand, whether antique or cast from life are as good as anything, or a face where the plancs are simple and broadly marked. For the foot or hand you would probably require no support at all; for the heads just an upright stick fastened well into a board, or bat, as we call it, that is, two boards each about eighteen inches or two feet square, fixed at two sides with two-inch space between, one above the other, parallel, so that you have room to place your tools in between. When you have the support ready, build your work up to the bat, keeping the upright well in the middle, so as not to let it protrude at the neck or elsewhere. Keep your work clean-looking and simple, the planes all distinctly marked, and particularly avoid all details and sharp cuttings until you have the general form rightly set in. It is good not to be always too near your work. Continually place your model and work together, so as to compare them, remembering to have them at the same angle to the light. You will understand by this that it is seldom you can sit to your work. When working keep damp cloths over your work, and do not let the cloths touch the more important surfaces.

If you should intend that your clay model should go to the kiln to be baked, there are two or threeparticulars you must carefully attend to. In the first place, see that your clay is quite clean, from lime, plaster or stone, as the presence of any of these is sufficient to burst your work and make pieces fly. Secondly, before sending it away from your studio, see that your work is perfectly dry. It is only through non-attention in these matters that much of beginner's work is spoiled in the firing: it is seldom the fault of the potter. A small figure can be

baked solid, but a larger one should always be hollowed out, as there is much more room for air to play round it. If you hollow it out, take care that there are a few small holes-in unimportant places where they would not be seen--to allow of escape of air. The hollowing out should be done when the clay is totally hard, but before it is quite dry. It is better to build up your work solidly and hollow it out afterward, than to hollow it out from the first. The latter can be done, but the difficulties necessitated by it are apt to distract your attention from your chief object, as very great care would be required to put the model together. The question of supports has been referred to. Most busts you can build up without any support at all; and for statuettes you can generally arrange a support that can readily be removed when the clay becomes of sufficient consistency to stand alone Take care, also, that the clay is well kneaded, so that it holds together, and that there are no air-holes present.

You can never be quite sure of the color when baked, as that depends a little upon the surroundings of your work in the kiln, nor can you always avoid slight cracks.

There is another important point to remember about terra cotta. As clay naturally shrinks when drying, you must allow for it. If you should want your work, when finished, to be of a certain size, one-tenth is generally allowed a little more or less would depend upon the degree of moisture that is in the clay, but it is seldom necessary to be so very particular.

There are drawbacks to terra cotta, but it is well to know that terra cotta can be repaired. A thin coat of distemper or paint will hide the cracks, although it also slightly hides the more delicate modelling, so it is not therefore to be recommended for finer work--better show the cracks.

If you don't intend to have your work baked, but to have it cast in plaster preparatory for bronze or marble, you need not be so careful in preparing your clay, neither need you consider your supports except for their strength and position. Do not attempt to cast your work yourself, for it requires some little skill to mix the plaster, and there are men (moulders) who make it their vocation-only caution them that you want your work returned to you exactly as you left it, otherwise you may find your surfaces all gone and worked out, or finished according to the moulder's notion.

These remarks will assist those who might try to model unaided, but if you get to like the work, and

would wish to succeed, you should take a few lessons from an expert, so as to be guided in your progress.

In modelling, remember always that you have merely form to deal with, but you have, if modelling a bust, to give the impression of the head and not a copy of it, and this is where the art of the sculptor is called into play. In sculpture you cannot give the color to the eye; you cannot give eyelashes, nor the fineness of the hair— all these points so important in life-so you must execute your work that none of these specialties should be missed. "How is this to be done?" you will ask. In a great measure it must be left to you to decide, to your own feeling and individuality. There are several ways of interpreting life, and several schools formed on these ways of execution, and a sculptor is perhaps the last person to recommend one way or the other, as, if he loves his art, he has become a specialist himself, and would unintentionally direct you towards his own way of interpretation. He can teach you to see nature, it is true, but can only teach you to render it in his own way--he is not able to say which is the right way, probably there isn't one; it is only a matter of feeling.

The destination of a work as well as the subject itself, are most important factors in determining the treatment. We will refer to one or two ways of treatment. For instance, in the eyes the Greeks left the pupils blank, but they gathered shadow by sinking the whole eye, and generally making the lower eyelid deeper than the upper. We moderns usually cut in the pupil, and leave the eye where nature placed it, conventionalizing the pupil more. Perhaps the former way is more suitable for ideal work, and the latter for portrait and character. The disadvantage of the latter way is that it is more dependent for its true effect upon the light in which it may be placed. The Roman work is marked much in the same way as our own, only not so deeply.

Whilst speaking of the antique we caution you against a too free use of it. Students generally commence there. and they stop there so long, that the development of all individuality and life is checked.

It is certainly useful at first, because you are not troubled with a model's varying phases, but when you have attained some little proficiency in modelling, it would be better to go direct to life. In the antique, as in other work, there is both good and bad. Many of the figures, and also of the busts are merely interesting from a historical point of view, and you must, as a student, look at them from the artistic side, to see whether the form is good, the lines well composed, and whether the entire builds up into one artistic whole.

720

HIS work is easy, pretty, and effective, and is well suited to ladies, as it does not require any great degree of strength.

Most of us know what is meant by repoussé work in metal. In that kind of work the pattern is beaten out at the back so that it stands out from the ground-work, which remains at its old level. The work which we are about to describe is precisely the opposite to this. Though the effect produced is somewhat the same, it is attained by different means. In a few words, instead of beating out the pattern from behind, the ground is "beaten down from in front, leaving the pattern untouched.

The tools required for this work are few and inexpensive. The beating down of the metal is effected by means of punches, struck by a mallet or hammer. It is well to use punches with some little pattern on them, for two reasons: firstly, because they are then less likely to slip from the exact place where the blow is required; and secondly, because such punches give a grained surface to the ground-work, and such an appearance is more pleasing than a plain surface, and affords a greater contrast to the smoothness of the pattern. Punches suitable for this purpose are called "star" and "chequering" punches.

Besides these you will require some tool with a plain edge for marking out lines on the pattern itself. For this purpose a blunt bradawl or small screw-driver may be used, or even a large nail filed to a similar edge; these tools should not be sharp, or you will run the risk of cutting the metal. These are also useful for getting into sharp angles in the pattern, where your punches, whether round or square, cannot go; a triangular file broken off will also be found a handy tool for this purpose.

If you have any doubts of your ability to hit the head of the punch, it will be safer to use a mallet than a hammer, as a miss means an awkward rap on the knuckles. You will require a pair of shell shears for cutting the sheet metal; these are like a pair of very strong scissors.

The metal itself should be brass, at any rate to begin with, though if you like you may use silver when you get on.

The kind of brass to use is sheet brass; No. 7 gauge will be found to be of a proper thickness. It may be procured of any length, in width from two or three inches upwards. It is sold by weight.

The first thing to do is to decide on the pattern, and we would suggest for your first attempt some simple design on a small piece of brass; a plain Latin cross on a bit four inches by three inches will do very well; or, if you like, the initial letter of your name. Cut your brass to the size required with the shears; you will find it rather difficult to make a straight cut of any length at first. This is because the part cut off does not yield and get out of the way like paper or cloth. You will have to bend it out of the way, it can easily be flattened afterwards with the hammer.

Cut out a piece of thin paper (tissue paper does well) the exact size of the brass, and on it trace your pattern. Flatten the brass, and gum the paper to it. Never mind if there are a few small wrinkles, these will vanish when the paper dries. Thin paper is recommended because thick paper is apt to loosen and come off when the punch is applied. This sometimes occurs even with thin paper, and if you find this happening, it is best to trace the pattern through the paper on the brass with some sharp instrument, taking care to scratch only very faintly. You can then wash off the paper, and be independent of it.

To work on the brass, it must be fastened down in some manner, and the most convenient way of doing this is to put a strip of wood on each end and screw it down. The brass need only be covered by the wood for about a quarter of an inch or even less. The board it is screwed down to should lie quite flat and firm on the table you work at, and the table itself should be a carpenter's bench, or some very strong and steady piece of furniture.

The most essential point about the punching is that it should be commenced at the edges of the brass, and worked inwards towards the middle. If the piece of

brass you are using is larger than is really required, it may be fastened down at once as recommended above. But if it is only the exact size, the edges, which are to go under the strips of wood, must be first punched.

Holding the punch perfectly perpendicular, strike firmly with the mallet, or hammer, so as to dent the brass.

Begin at one corner, and work all around the edge, allowing the marks to overlap each other somewhat irregularly, so as to do away with any suggestion of pattern in the ground-work. When you have got all round, do a second row inside the first in the same irregular manner. Enough of the ground will now be done to enable you to fasten it down with the strips of wood, and you can then proceed, working inwards towards the pattern. As you get on you will see the inworked portion in the center (containing all the pattern) rising up in relief. You must now be guided by the pattern itself. If it is a figure with no grounding in the middle, proceed with the punching right up to the edges of the pattern. If it has an isolated piece of ground-work in it, for instance, if it has the letter O, it will be well at this stage to begin punching the middle, and working alternately thence to the pattern, and from the outside also, for if you go quite up to the pattern from the outside before you touch the middle, the brass will have risen to such a height that it will be difficult to punch it down neatly.

On the same principle if the pattern has some groundwork running into it, as in the letter V, you should commence working up into this place before you have reached the pattern from the outside.

As a general rule, it is a good thing to keep the advancing line of dents at the same distance from the outline all round, that is to say, the punch-marks should give a rough representation of this outline But no rule can be laid down on this point, and a few attempts will show you with tolerable certainty how to proceed in any particular case.

As you get near to the pattern a new difficulty encounters you. This is caused by the fact that, as the center has risen, you are working each punch-mark on a sloping surface of brass. Under these circumstances the punch will slip when struck, and will not make a clean dent.

This is very annoying, especially as it occurs chiefly when you are approaching the outline of the pattern and wish every blow to tell in exactly its right place.

It may he avoided by holding the punch very firmly against the brass and by giving the head of it a slight inclination outwards from the pattern, so that the blow may be directed really at right angles to the surface, as was the case before the rising of the pattern took place. It is hardly necessary to mention that the punch is usually held in the left hand and the mallet or

hammer in the right, though it is sometimes convenient to work the reverse way.

When you have worked up to the pattern in this manner, and have carefully gone round the outline, wash off the paper tracing, if you have retained it till now. You will then be able to see many little places which require punching, and this can be easily done by the aid of the eye alone.

If the punch-marks appear too marked or regular in any part of the ground go over this again, until the whole ground-work presents a uniformly dented appearance.

If any lines have to be marked out on the pattern itself, this is the time to do it. Intricate work on the pattern is difficult and not effective, but in many cases, some simple lines must be made.

For instance, if a butterfly has been represented, it would be hopeless to attempt any reproduction of the pattern on its wings, but it would be easy (and suf ficient) to mark out the division between its front and hind wings and the segments of its body. This should be done with the small screw-driver or bradawl mentioned before. They should be used as a punch, and the lines marked out by light blows of the hammer, as it is not desired to sink these lines down to the level of the ground-work. In fact, if they are well marked, the less indented they are the better. Be careful to hold these chisel-shaped implements upright when struck, as you do not want to dig the corners into the work.

It is difficult to give any idea on paper of the exact force which should be given to the blows of the mallet or hammer, but a few trials will put you in the way of it. The brass should be considerably indented, but, on the other hand, you must be careful to avoid making a hole.

Perhaps you will be able to get on better with thinner brass than we have recommended; this is a matter of individual preference.

Your work is now finished as far as the punching goes, and you can remove the slips of wood which have been holding it down and examine it at your leisure.

You will probably find that it has a slight curl in it and will not lie flat. This may be removed by beating the ground-work lightly with a small hammer, and it will be found useful to beat it from behind, by turning it upside down and beating it on the projecting corner of a board. Of course this corner must not project on the pattern, or the raised work will be beaten down.

If any fragments of paper remain, or any gum, they can be removed by warm water and rubbing with a rag. The whole work can now be polished, using sifted whiting, tripoli powder, or anything of that kind which will not scratch the brass. It will be a matter of taste or convenience whether you prefer the brass to look old or keep it polished. In the former case it only re