Issue 33 web - Flipbook - Page 26
Gypsum is being used to cast ornaments into various
moulds which are left to harden before removal from the
mould creating a regimented precise cast ornament which
are then glued into place.
The creation of fibrous plaster relies heavily on the use of
pre made moulds in rubber or silicone which can be used
many times over to create exact replicas of mouldings
which are straight and regular.
The level of craft employed has been reduced with a
heavier reliance on timber guides and rules, hard cast ornaments are reproduced each exactly the same as the last.
The speed of the creation of plaster ceilings is reduced as
it is simply screwed or glued into place and jointed with
all of the ornament already in place.
Mention should be made of the employment of the
Stuccatori from the area of Ticcini in Northern Italy and
Southern Switzerland. The skills employed during this
period by some of the masters of this art such as Bagutti,
Artari and the La Francini brothers over in Ireland (see
“ The Making of Magnificence “ by C. Casey ) as well as
home grown plasterers who’s work goes some way to
balance out this loss of hand craft at this time.
These are all remarkable and necessary advancements in
the creation of plasterwork however in this move to speed
up and reduce the cost of plasterwork we have reduced
the amount of craft employed by making it into a factory
process.
No one can doubt the beauty of a well made fibrous
ceiling however in that reduction of the craft element we
have lost the hand made nature of plasterwork, the
beauty of imprecision, perfect imperfection.
In the middle of the 19th century plasterwork is changed
dramatically once more with the invention of a
completely new technique called “Fibrous Plaster” or
colloquially “ Rag and Stick”.
There are plenty of surviving examples of each of these
techniques here in the UK and the care of these works of
art is entrusted to us the Masters of this art of ours, and it
is ours which we must own and nurture.
There are many elements of fibrous plaster which we
might use to recommend it for use today.
We have a responsibility to ensure that when we repair
work from any of these periods we do so with real authenticity as by doing so we keep alive the knowledge of those
skills which are so easily lost and that will be our legacy.
It can be made in advance of a project to dry before being
fixed reducing the timescale for decorating it.
Its lightweight and very precise.
The cost of projects can be greatly reduced.
Any hand craft work such as the modelling of ornament
is only done once as a model from which to make moulds.
Below, Drapers Hall Guildhall fibrous ceiling from 1900 all suspended from plaster and hessian wads as in the right hand image. Now conserved
with modern suspension system.
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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