How a Bust Is Made.
Having thus prepared his skeleton, the sculptor is now ready to begin with the more important matter of modelling. But first of all he has to see that his clay is all right. The clay commonly used for this purpose is the china clay of the potter; but at a pinch any clay will do, and I know of more than one sculptor who, in his impecunious days, has been obliged to turn to the common clay of the brick-field. The essential thing is that it should not be rotten and friable, but rather elastic, spreading easily and cohering
well. When the clay is too dry it is put in water over night. In the morning it is in such a state that it may be passed through a coarse sieve, and so the rough particles be got rid of. Then, when it has dried until of the consistency of putty, it is ready for use.
The sculptor now takes four or five largish lumps and rolls them with his hands into long strips, from half to three-quarters of a foot in length, and of the thickness of a good-sized ruler. He then takes portions of these strips and applies them bit by bit to the armature and the transverse bar, thus gradually building up the general shape of the head and shoulders. Care has to be taken from the first to have an eye to the features and contour of the head that is being modelled. It is not necessary that the model should keep seated in the same attitude all the time. If required to do so, he or she, as the case may be, is apt to acquire a very stiff pose, with the result that the stiffness may be transferred to the bust. The best way is to let the sitter converse freely, and assume a natural position. By this means the habitual expression is seized, and a good likeness is more likely to be the result.
When a general rough outline of the head has been secured, it is then time to begin to work for exactitude of feature and facial expression. This the artist does by putting on a bit here, and taking off a bit there. All this is done with the fingers and thumb. Occasionally it may be necessary to use a tool, but rarely. The best sculptors work mainly with the instrument nature has provided them withal, the hands. With his fingers the artist has more freedom in handling his material, and in communicating to it that life-like expression which is the aim and object of his art. No tool yet invented by man enables him to enjoy such fineness of touch, or to give so much breadth or such delicacy of detail to his work, as that which he naturally commands in the use of his fingers.
Of course, a bust is not modelled in an hour, nor in a day. A good sculptor will finish one in four or five sittings of an hour or an hour and a half each; others will require a dozen or more. Everything depends upon the facility of the artist in seizing upon expression. This will be the difficult point with the beginner. He may, after a while, get the general outline of the head and face of his sitter and feel utterly helpless to go further. But then is the time to exercise patience. Michael Angelo did not become a sculptor in a day, nor yet in a year. When the tyro feels that he cannot go further, it is generally because he does not see further. Of course, he sees that his portrait is not like; but he has not yet learned to see in detail, in minutiae. That he must now begin to do by observing every little point, depression, curve, wrinkle, wart, hair, and so forth. And then, what his mind has learned to take note of, his hand will soon learn to imitate.
All the time the work is in progress the clay must be kept moist, otherwise it will crack and fall to pieces. This is commonly done by spraying it with a garden syringe, and covering it over at night with wet cloths.
When the bust is finished, if it has to be cast in bronze, or reproduced in marble, a cast of it is taken in plaster of Paris; but if it is intended to fire it, and make a terra-cotta bust of it, the operation of hollowing it is necessary. This is effected by slicing off the crown of the head with a piece of thin wire or thread, and then scooping out the inside until a uniform thickness of about an inch and a half is left. When this is done the bust will be easily freed from its peg, and the armature attached to it. The next thing is to set it aside to dry. This takes some time, and only when it is quite free from all moisture is it ready to be taken to the kiln to bake or fire. The kiln in which it is fired is the ordinary one of the potter. This having been done, the work is complete.
If the bust has to be reproduced in bronze, the plaster cast must be taken to the bronze casters, where the transformation will be effected. The process of making an exact reproduction in marble is generally done by the sculptor himself, or by his assistant, and is more or less a mere mechanical operation, the carvers working by points, as they are called, mathematically accurate, by means of which he is enabled to make an exact copy of the cast. When this is done the sculptor goes over it carefully with his chisel and gives some final touches by way of finish, and to add to the vividness and life-likeness, so to speak, of expression.
How to Use Leaves.—There is one desirable quality in the hobby I am about to recommend boys, and that is its inexpensive character. A quarter of a yard of nainsook muslin, a tube or two of oil paint, a good-sized handful of lint or cotton wool, two or three sheets of foolscap, and as many of cartridge paper, and you are set up for any number of wet days or vacant half-holidays. The leaves can be obtained free of cost, anywhere and at any time, winter or summer, and in any number. Ivy leaves do well, leaves of the black or red currant or gooseberry bushes are better, and the flowering currant better still. Brambles, lime, and plane trees which grow everywhere, and most trees or bushes except holly, will give you excellent subjects. Some boys know how to keep in the good graces of the housekeeper, and would “borrow” the muslin from her. (Say you would like it fine.) Probably one of your sisters paints a bit, and would lend you the burnt sienna tube (oil colour) upon the same terms; of course, the wool or lint you would get from the housekeeper with the muslin; while an application to the pater for some foolscap—you would prefer blue, it is more business-like—would be sure to be successful, for somehow fathers like to encourage boys when they mean to do something serious; and there is left only the cartridge paper to finish the outfit. Perhaps somewhere in the establishment there is even a store of this; if not, there is nothing for it but a visit to the stationer and an attack upon the pocket-money.
Now to proceed. Make the cotton wool into a nice round even ball, quite free from lumps, particularly at the bottom. Fold the muslin to get a double thickness, place the wool inside, make it into a mass about the size of a cricket-ball, tie this tightly, leaving enough muslin free to take hold of easily. (See Fig. 1.)