MODELLING in clay la so completely a practical art, and depends rue much on the experience and formative skill of the modeller, that, beyond a few remarks on the necessary consistency of the clay, nothing more can be given here than an account of the nature and uses of the tools, and some description of the sculptor's process.
The tools, called modelling tools, are made of wood and wire, hut no tool is more useful than the finger ; indeed tools have been invented as mere aids to the fingers, and are designed to do what they cannot perform. Wire tools are the must useful, being fashioned into loops of various shapes and sizes round and angular, and fixed into wooden handles. They accomplish any required form without driviug the clay on to any already modelled part, the superfluous c:ay remaining in its place while the wire passes under it and until the tool is removed, when it either falls of its own weight, or is removed by the slightest touch of the modeller. The wire tools are most efficient when applied to concave surfaces, especially those in the close or narrow folds of draperies : the wire is sometimes notched or indented, to give a rough surface to the clay. The wooden tools are made of box and ebony, of various shapes and sizes—curved, straight, pointed, rounded, and fiat and broad; the broad tools being notched, and designed chiefly for working the large convex masses, or large folds in drapery. In model ling a bust, especially the feature*, great nicety is required, and the modeller must be particularly careful not to injure what is already done, by retouching with the tool while clay is adhering to it, or he may risk the complete destruction of his work : the adhering clay will drive up the surface. A good method to guard against this accident is to keep the wooden tools which arc used for the finer work soaked in oil; the clay is then not liable to adhere, and much time is accordingly saved in finishing the model. The above is perhaps, without practical demonstration, all that can be usefully said about the working tools.
The clay used is common potters' clay, but should be of the best quality. It must be so wet that it will not stand in a mass much higher than its own width without support. The clay adhered much more to the tools when wet, but it is at the same time much more easily and quickly worked, a matter of great consequence, as the patience of the artist is less tried, and some expenditure of time is saved. The supports for the clay are it most important cousideratiou, for if not properly attended to, the finished work, the fruits of months of labour, might suddenly fall to pieces by its own weight. The support of a figure of the heroic or ordinary size (seven feet) is com paratively easy, but this also exacts strict attention, especially if in any very active or unusual attitude. Sculptors generally model figures of the ordinary size upon a bench or stand called a banker, about thirty inches high, and about thirty inches square,—for a bust it must of course be much higher ; above this a solid circular pliuth is fixed on a wooden bos, and is revolved upon six or more wheels, or what are better, short slightly conical rollers, fixed to the plinth near the cir• cumferenco : the plinth moves more easily on such rollers than wheels, and the rollers afford a more solid support and last A revolving pliuth necessary to enable the sculptor to see his on all sides in any light, and it enables him to work on all parts, in one spot, or in the same light. On the centre of the plinth there must be fixed ver
tically a strong iron bar, about the height of a man, and from about six to ten inches in circumference, according to the weight of the figure ; it must necessarily be strong and firmly fixed, as it is the main support of the whole skeleton of supports. lu loosely draped figures, which are proportionally heavy, it is advisable to fix a vertical beam of wood to the main iron bar; for though the bar will keep the clay perpen dicularly in its place, it is no provision against the oinking of a groat mass ; and the quantity used iu sonic. figures, even of the heroic size only, amounts to about two tons. Two cross pieces of wood umot be fixed to the main bar at the shoulders and the loins, from which the supporta of the arms and legs most be started ; and a third piece may be fixed in the middle to diminish the weight of clay: the supports of the legs must be bars, straight or bent, according to the position of the legs ; but the supports of the arms, when not detached from the body or drapery, may generally be made of twisted thick copper wire, small pieces of wood beiug twisted in with it at short intervals and at right angles, like the pieces of paper in the tail of a boy's kite. The fingers, if eeparated, will require similar care ; indeed the clay should be gradually built up against a complete of supports and suffi ciently strong not to yield iu the least to the weight of the clay when the model is finished. The building of such a skeleton for a figure of the heroic size is often the work of a week or more, and it would be always advisable for the young sculptor, iu modelling his first figure, to procure some experienced hand to construct his okeleton of supports for Lim. If an arm is slightly elevated, and detached from the figure, the support might be so contrived as to allow the arm to be removed at pleasure, which would enable the sculptor to model the part benenth it with much greater ease, and would considerably diminish the risk of injury to the ann. The contrivance is easily accomplished, for nothing more is required than a pipe or tube in the shoulder support, which could ice-vivo and hold firmly the skeleton support of the arm, which might be a bar of wood or of metal; or thick or twisted wire, when of a email size. In modelling a bust very little support is necessary, an upright piece of wood with a cross-bar at the shoulders being quite sufficient; but a small cross-bar at the head would do no harm.