HOW CASTS ARE TAKEN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1026, 15 December 1883, Page 4

HOW CASTS ARE TAKEN

Vi An “artist of plaster” in New York recently described his business to a . Tribune reporter. Among other things he said:—We have frequent calls for casts of hands ; not so much for arms 'iatid legs. The casting varies in regard V to the time, a leg or an arm taking much j longer of course than a foot or a hand. L The process, however, is the same in all these cases. Eirst the hand is covered ■with- plaster from an inch to an inch and a half thick. We wait till this settles and grows lukewarm, perhaps twenty minutes in the case of a hand. Then With a string the plaster is cut into , sections and removed. It is now put again, the inside hollow having 'the exact shape, lines, and thickness of that part of the body to which the .plaster was applied. This hollow is 'next fwashed with oil, because we are now to fill it with plaster, and this must not be allowed to stick (as it would without the oil) to the outside plaster put on.. Then the mould thus filled is laid away for five hours or so in the case o/|a band. Afterwards, the workman chisels away the outside plaster, Wofking : down to the hand formed within. This of course requires care and delicacy lest the inside hand be cut. The chiselling takes half a day, and the rwhole operation consumes a day. Two ■ days are required for a leg or an arm. Casts Sre generally made for personal gratification or for surgical operations. The mask of the human face is sometime? taken.from life. We have taken such a mask several times, though we dislikeit, and will probably refuse to do so again; The plaster is put on in three J sections separately, the space around th'e mouth forming one section, and a .line reaching from the centre of the forehead down to the tip of the nose, dividing the rest of the face into two sections. A small pipe is passed through to the nostril for breathing pur- : pdsCs. The plaster is likely to stick to any hairs on the face, and hurts a delicate skin. Our charge for this cast is over eight as much as for a hand. ,/We inake masks of dead man’s faces, and busts, too; The cost of these is “rather high—L3 for the mask and Lio foruhe bust, but we have had a number Of calls in that department of our work. f iTllfc Qperation -Vequires more time than Others, a half day being needed for applying.apd removing the plaster, and Mbeih tliree; day s more for the mask and .-.a week for the bust, 't .!■; ■