REPRODUCTIONS IN PAPER BY VARIOUS METHODS 245 



have been beautifully reproduced for the Leicester Museum 

 (see Figs. S and 6, Plate XII., for models of a smaller number). 



Another valuable property which paraffin possesses, is that 

 of giving not only an ivory surface, but an ivory interior, to 

 plaster casts ; and to do this it is only necessary to warm the 

 plaster well and to dip it rapidly, or, in some cases, let it lie in 

 very hot paraffin wax, which penetrates the plaster so efficiently 

 that, by cutting with a knife, the brittleness of the plaster 

 will be found to have vanished, and there appears an ivory 

 surface which possesses the inestimable advantage of taking 

 colour and drying softly, and so solving the difficulty at once 

 of giving a proper surface to the ordinarily intractable plaster. 

 The waxing of the plaster is applicable not only to models, but 

 also to moulds, and has partially superseded borax (see p. 310) 

 for leaf-moulds. 



In The Stonemason, No. 5 8, 1887, pp. 73, 74, it is stated that 



If the plaster has been mixed with milk and water, or if it be 

 brushed over with a mixture of oil and wax, the surface will, when dry, 

 take a good polish, and will after a while acquire the appearance of old 

 ivory. Another method is to keep the cast in an oven of about 300 

 degrees F., for forty-eight hours, and then to steep it in olive oil. After- 

 wards immerse it in warm water, and polish with whiting. The plaster 

 for casts may be tinted any desired colour by colouring the water with 

 which it is mixed with soluble dyes. Gum arable and alum mixed with 

 the water will make the plaster as hard as the hardest wood, so that it 

 may be used in ornamenting furniture. 



DIVISION III 



REPRODUCTIONS IN PAPER BY VARIOUS METHODS 



Objects constructed in paper have always possessed a certain 

 fascination for all art workers. The cheapness of the material, 

 its lightness, freedom, when properly treated, from cracking or 



