A DESIGN IN PAPER.
PART I.
OF THE MATERIALS REQUIRED.
The materials the architectural modeller will require for his work, are, for the most part, few, simple, and inexpensive. They are also easily procured at any of the Artists’ Repositories. It is not, therefore, so much in the material employed, but in the skill displayed in the working, that the beauties of a model consist. The principle in this description of modelling being, that every possible part be constructed of paper, it is necessary that this should be procured of the description best suited to the nature of the work, and of the best possible quality. Inferior papers are hard, contain knots and other imperfections, and are very frequently gritty; this latter imperfection, by destroying the delicate edge of the knife, prevents the work having that sharp appearance so much to be desired. The paper I use, and have always found the best for all purposes, has a surface similar to that of Whatman’s double-elephant drawing paper, and is, I believe, sold under the name of Crayon paper: a specimen is bound with this book, forming the next page; it is of a pale cream-colour, bearing a strong semblance in tint to Bath-stone, but I have procured it from this to the shades necessary for the roofs of models. It is firm, though not hard, in texture, and not being too spongy, does not absorb to too great a degree the paste used in fastening together the sheets for the various thicknesses required, thus ensuring their firmness, a matter of the highest importance, otherwise in thin strips consisting of four, five, or more thicknesses of paper, upon their being cut each would part and defeat the desired end.
The most useful tint of this paper is the one already described, as it can be easily tinted to represent bricks or rubble, &c., should it be necessary,—for instance, in a building where the quoins, dressings, &c., were in stone, the rest in random rubble or brick, it would enable you to mark them with a HHH pencil, and tint before your work was made up. I have constructed several models in pure white Bristol board, but it is a tedious hard material to work in, though the result is very fine.
The next most important auxiliary is an adhesive material for fastening the sheets together to produce the necessary thicknesses of cardboard, and to fix the whole together and the several parts in their places. For the former a paste of flour made in the following manner, will be found to be the best. To every two tablespoonfuls of the best wheaten flour, add a teaspoonful of common moist or brown sugar, and a little corrosive sublimate, the whole to be boiled, and while boiling continually stirred to prevent lumps, till of the right consistency. If a few drops of some essential oil, say lavender or peppermint, be added, the usual mouldiness will not appear, and the paste will keep for a great length of time. For the latter, a gum must be used, prepared by the following proportions. To each six ounces of the best gum arabic, add an ounce or less of moist or lump sugar, one teaspoonful of lavender or other essential oil, and a table-spoonful of gin, the whole to be mixed in cold water (no heat being in any way applied) to the consistency of a thick syrup.
Other requisites are sheets of mica or talc, to be procured at the ironmonger’s, and used for windows, skylights, &c.; pieces of soft deal or beech wood, to form any small detail such as pinnacles to barge boards, &c., that it may not be advisable or possible to form in paper; wire, lead, cord, velvet, and numerous other nick-nacks, which will occur to the modeller as his work proceeds, and which will hereafter, in their place, be carefully described.
PART II.
OF THE INSTRUMENTS NECESSARY.
The first thing the artist must procure must be a board of fine, close-grained wood, free from knots, to prepare and cut the several parts of his work upon. The best for this cutting-board is beech, sycamore, or pear-tree wood; it should be, at the least, one and a-half inch thick, by twelve inches broad, and about eighteen inches in length. I should prefer it even thicker than stated, as continual planing of the surface to erase the marks of the knife soon reduces its thickness. Let it be squared perfectly every way to allow the T square to work accurately along its edge. As before stated, care must be taken, when the surface has become too much cut up, to have it re-planed, or otherwise the knife is apt to follow the marks in the board, and cut the paper irregularly upon the under side. The size of board mentioned will be found most useful for all ordinary purposes; should the work be of very large dimensions, of course another must be procured, proportionally larger. Two or three boards of close-grained deal will also be found of service for cutting obliquely, &c., &c.
THE MODELLING PRESS.
This apparatus will be found of essential service to the artist, as by its aid he forms the cardboard which is the basis of his model. It may be either of iron or wood; the former is lighter, and more elegant in appearance, but the latter, though plain and homely, is in my opinion preferable in many respects. A common copying press may be used, care being taken not to place the damp paper between the iron, but between two hard, close-grained pieces of wood. On page [27] is an illustration of the press I use, which any joiner can construct for a few shillings. It consists of a cross-beam, A, through which the screw passes; two uprights, B B; a bottom, C, to which, and to the cross-beam, the uprights must be firmly mortised. Between them is a moveable top-piece, D, which by means of cord running through two small pulleys, E E, keeps it pressing continually against the screw; the weight F, at the end of the cord being slightly heavier than will balance the top-piece. By these means, as you unwind the screw, either to place under, or look at the progress of work already there, the top-piece moves out of your way. The sizes of the wood for the different portions is given, and care must be observed in not breaking it by too great a pressure of the screw; as the object of the press is to keep the sheets flatly and firmly together, while the adhesive material sets, no undue degree of force is necessary; indeed it will, for reasons hereafter to be described, be found a disadvantage to press them too closely.