Concerning The Order And Manner Of Moulding With Powder In Frames Or Wooden Boxes In The Small Art Of Casting.

SMALL things are customarily moulded in two ways (unless they have undercut parts which hold them in the moulds); that is in clay, or with natural or which artificial earthern powder made in halves in either wooden boxes or bronze frames. This also depends on whether the object is larger or smaller. Now if you wish to mould with moist clay, you must grease your relief with oil or pig fat; apply a dusting of charcoal, ashes, or cuttlebone on it; or gild or silver it dry with gold, silver, or tin foil. Then, first make with moist and somewhat firm clay a plate as, thick and large as can conveniently hold your relief, and carefully set the latter halfway into this and let it dry. Then, greasing or dusting it again, make the other half. When both are well dried, take out your relief and at the top make its gates and vents. If plastering is needed, do it. Finally, bake the halves, fit them together, and tie them well, as you wish, using the procedure that I taught you in the discussion of brass. But if one has to make a large quantity of works of one kind, he should for the sake of convenience use the method with powder [120] because it is short and requires less time and expense. Therefore if you wish to do this, you need to have several pairs of bronze frames or wooden boxes, higher than half the relief that you wish to mould, and of convenient length. On a flat board always keep half of one of these frames full of powder that has been slightly moistened for moulding, as I told you, so that by pressing with the ends of the fingers and with the hand it holds together as well as possible. Level it off with a cutting tool and when leveled put a flat board over it and turn it over. Turn it on to a dusting of ashes so that it will not stick, dust it on the other side, and remove the excess by blowing it off Then mould the thing that you wish to mould, pressing it halfway in once or twice, always taking it out and putting it back again. Then the other frame is fitted in its place and filled with earth by pressing and squeezing it carefully. Then it is leveled off on the outside with a sharp tool as you did with the other part, and then one of the parts of the frames is lifted up with the point of a knife or some other tool and,