The floor of the temple is now to be glued on with common glue, for we should remark that the liquid glue does not dry quickly enough for cork modelling, and is not so good as the old plan; the sides and ends are formed of cork sheets, marked with a lead pencil to represent the blocks of stone; and ruined and broken parts imitated, by pricking the cork with a blunt penknife or needle. The frieze, representing the battle between the Centaurs and Lapithæ and the metopes in mezzo-relievo, containing a mixture of the labours of Hercules and Theseus, should be drawn upon the sheets of cork according to scale, and coloured with a little lampblack and raw sienna, to represent the subject intended, if the scale is small; but if the model admits of it, the groups may be neatly carved with a sharp penknife from the cork, which has been previously outlined with pencil.
The next thing we shall have to do is to strengthen the interior of the model, and this is done by glueing small pieces of cork, at irregular intervals, at the angles formed by the junction of any parts; these are put on the inside, and lastly, the roof is affixed. Any parts that require to be coloured, may be touched up with varnish or water colours, and lichen, &c., affixed with mucilage where it is requisite.
2375. To Model from Living Objects
We will imagine that the reader desires to model the features of some friend, and as there is some difficulty in the matter, on account of the person operated upon having a natural tendency to distort the features when the liquid plaster is poured upon the face, and some danger of suffocation if the process is not well managed, we will proceed at once to describe the various stages of operating:
2376. Procedure (1)
Mix the plaster of paris with warm water, and have it about as thick as cream, but do not mix it until all is ready. Lay the person upon his back, and having raised his head to the natural position when walking, by means of a pillow of bran or sand, cover the parts intended to be cast with oil of almonds or olives, applied by means of a feather, brush, or lump of cotton: plug the ears with cotton or wool, and insert two quills into the nostrils, and plug the space between each quill and the nostril very carefully with cotton.
2377. Procedure (2)