Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/575

 other day that he believed that if the famous frieze of the Parthenon was first modelled in clay, no tools save those nature endowed man withal were used, the general effect is so broad and grand. He added that, in proof of his assertion, he would undertake to copy the frieze, using his fingers alone.

Of course, a portrait bust is not modelled in a day. To do one properly takes several days; for one reason, because the sitter becomes wearied and bored, and loses vivid expression if required to sit more than an hour or two at a time. In the case of the bust from which our illustrations are taken, however, all the stages were done in from four to five hours.

While the work is in progress it is necessary to keep the clay moist. This is done by spraying it with a garden syringe, or with what is sometimes called the "mouth syringe."

When the bust is finished, it is cast in plaster; but if it be intended to "fire" it, and make a terra-cotta bust of it, the operation of hollowing is necessary. This is done by cutting off a part of the crown by means of a very thin wire or thread, and scooping out the inside till only a uniform thickness of about one and a half inches is left. When this is done the bust will come off the stick, with its "butterfly" and other attachments, like an old glove. There are four reasons for this hollowing—it lessens the weight, saves time in drying, eases the firing, and lessens the risk of splitting. The bust is now set aside to dry, and when it has become quite hard, and free from moisture, it is ready for "firing" (which is done in an ordinary potter's kiln).

We now return to our sketch-model, to explain the making of which our photographic illustrations and the necessary descriptive text have been introduced. The model may be only a few inches in height, or it may be a couple of feet (the horse photographed was about ten inches), depending, of course, upon the subject—whether it is to be of ordinary or colossal proportions, and on other considerations. The model may either be worked out simply in the rough, in order to give the grouping and the proportions, or it may be highly finished. As a rule, however, the