The General Procedure And Methods For Making Moulds For Casting Bronze.

NOW continuing with the preparation of the moulds I say that it is necessary to give the greatest attention to the differences of the clays as well as to the differences of those things that you wish to mould; and to know that every concavity in the mould produces a convexity and every convexity a hollow following the shape of the original pattern that you have. The pattern should be a body of a harder mated than the thing [78] you wish to mould with and of a substance that is not swollen or disintegrated by moisture. Its archetype may be of marble, bronze, lead, or any other metal, or also of wood, wax, tallow, gypsum, sulphur, or other plaster compositions-in short, of whatever you may have or whatever succeeds best for you, depending on whether the works are large or small and easy or &cult to mould. If you wish to cast them in bronze, you must mould them with loam, covering them with it and then drying it. There are some things in which it is enough to form only one part, such as half- or bas-reliefs. These are easy if they have no undercuts. Some other patterns that are easily handled are formed in two halves, or in three or four pieces, if they are of a hard material. There are also moulds for large statues, which, if one desires to make them of bronze, are first made of wax according to the ordinary procedure. I have in mind to describe every one of these processes in their own place. There are like- wise some moulds that are difficult to make, like scenes on a plane to which figures in full relief are attached, or twisted ornaments or other detached things that cannot be withdrawn from the mould without break-