[Illustration:
FRONTISPIECE.
]
[Illustration]
THE ART
OF
ARCHITECTURAL MODELLING
IN PAPER.
BY
T. A. RICHARDSON,
ARCHITECT.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS DESIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, AND ENGRAVED BY O. JEWITT.
LONDON:
JOHN WEALE, 59, HIGH HOLBORN.
1859.
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE.
In offering the following practical dissertation (the first ever yet
published) upon the Art of Architectural Modelling, the Author feels
that he is supplying a want that must have been long felt by many
students and others in the architectural profession. The utility of the
“Model,” coupled with its beauty, is ample recommendation of the study;
and the modeller will be able to furnish the architect with sure and
certain means that he may find weighty difficulties surmounted,
especially in the case of uncomprehending clients, by giving to them the
designs of their edifices with a distinctness almost equal to the real
work when completed. With many clients, even “perspectives” are poorly
understood, which seldom fails to cause some slight dissatisfaction on
their part when they see too late certain things that the eye would have
detected in the model and corrected in the outset. Models are becoming
very general, where buildings are subjects of competition; and as this
course of procedure and honourable encounter bids fair (when weeded of
some of its present objections) to open up a good and honourable system,
whereby the “race _may be_ to the swift,” the importance of the
following brief and simple Treatise on the subject, becomes doubly
clear.
T. A. R.
CHESTER, _March, 1859_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE iii
INTRODUCTION 13
PART I.
OF THE MATERIALS REQUIRED.
PAPER 19
ADHESIVE MATERIAL 21
OTHER REQUISITES 22
PART II.
OF THE INSTRUMENTS NECESSARY.
CUTTING BOARD 24
MODELLING PRESS 25
=T= SQUARE 29
ADJUSTING STRAIGHT EDGE 31
CUTTING KNIVES 33
ADJUSTING KNIFE COMPASS 36
PART III.
THE COMMENCEMENT AND FINISH OF A MODEL.
OUTLINE PLAN 40
THICKNESS OF PAPER FOR WALLS 40
OUTLINING THE ELEVATION 41
WINDOW FRAMES 44
GROUND PLAN, OUTLINE PLAN 45
GLASS OR OTHER BACKING TO WINDOWS 48
DOORS 49, 51
FORMING MITRES 52
INCIDENTAL PRESSURE DURING PROGRESS 54
FIXING THE MODEL TOGETHER 54
BLOCKING PIECES TO ANGLES 54
PREPARATION FOR FINAL FASTENING TO STAND 56
METHOD OF INSERTING THE WOOD STAY 57
THE CORNICE 59
MOULDING TOOLS 60
DETAILS OF WINDOWS 61
CIRCULAR PEDIMENTS 64
QUOINS 64
CIRCULAR ARCHITRAVES 65
KEYSTONES 65, 66
CANTALIVERS 66
CUTTING, CURVES 66
PLAIN ARCHITRAVES 67
CUTTING IN GENERAL WITH THE KNIFE 68
DETAILS OF WINDOWS 69
THE GREENHOUSE 73, 75
PILASTERS 75
CAP AND BASE 75
ROOF OF GREENHOUSE 76, 77
CORNICE AND PLINTH 79
CHIMNEYS 79
ROOF OF HOUSE 83, 84, 85
REMOVING THE MODEL 88
PREPARATION OF FINAL STAND 88
PREPARATION OF GLASS SHADE 89
FIXING THE MODEL TO ITS STAND 89
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, AND REFERENCE TO IN GLOSSARY 90
PART IV.
HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
INTRODUCTION 91
PEDESTALS, SUN DIALS, GATE PIERS, BALUSTERS 93
IMITATIONS OF LAWNS, GRASS, ETC. 94
WATER, ROCKS, AND GROTTOES 94
WALKS, DRIVES, FLOWER BEDS, TREES, AND SHRUBS 95
PART V.
A GLOSSARY, CONTAINING THE METHOD OF WORKING VARIOUS DETAILS 97
NOT HITHERTO DESCRIBED
TO THE READER. FINIS. 111
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THE ART
OF
ARCHITECTURAL MODELLING
IN PAPER.
INTRODUCTION.
The art of Architectural Modelling is not so difficult to acquire, as an
observer, examining a model and admiring the minuteness of its parts,
would be led to suppose. But in order to gain a certain degree of
proficiency, a large amount of patience and perseverance is absolutely
necessary. The great beauties of a model consist, firstly, in perfect
symmetry and correctness of parts, all the angles being clear,
well-defined, and sharp, the various minutiæ of detail accurately
delineated; and secondly, to the straightness and evenness of the
horizontal and perpendicular lines. It will be, therefore, readily
understood, that it is these portions of the manipulation which demand
the student’s attention, more particularly as the joining of the paper
or cardboard by means of a mitre, as well as the cutting of lines on the
slant in either a horizontal or curved direction, is somewhat difficult.
These difficulties which arise in the student’s path are, however,
easily to be overcome, and he must not grow faint-hearted if, after
repeated trials, he does not succeed in producing the required effect.
Rather at this juncture let him examine some model by an adept in the
art, comparing his work with it. By these means he will be enabled to
see the points in his own requiring improvement, and then let him
continue to labour perseveringly and diligently until he gains a perfect
command of his knife and materials, and few will be found but will admit
that the result at last obtained fully repays him for his time and
labour. There is no doubt that the art is of very great antiquity, and
that in former times no building of importance was erected without one
having been previously constructed. This not only aided the successful
carrying out of the architect’s drawings, but enabled him and his
employer to judge better as to the general effect the work would have
when completed.
We have mention made of models as early as 1546, when San Gallo (a pupil
of Bramante, the original architect of St. Peter’s, at Rome), either
himself constructed, or caused to be, a model of his proposed designs
for that magnificent structure, in order that the whole might be carried
out in the same spirit in the event of his death. On this latter event
occurring, the immortal Michael Angelo Buonarotti undertook the
important office of architect to St. Peter’s. One of his first tasks was
to set aside the model of his predecessor, which had occupied many years
in constructing, at a cost of many thousand pounds, while he constructed
himself, at a trifling expense and in a few days, another model of his
intended work. Numerous other instances of the practical utility of this
branch of art might be cited, but the author deems it unnecessary, its
importance being at once obvious; and this little work, though devoid of
all technicalities, too frequently the fault of works of this
description, yet is intended shall be eminently practical. To a large
and increasing body, the architectural assistants, it is hoped that this
little hand-book will prove to be acceptable; and though written
principally for the professional man, it is hoped it may not prove
utterly useless or uninteresting to others, who though not members of
the architectural profession may yet possess sufficient taste and skill
to wish to perpetuate
A DESIGN IN PAPER.
PART I.
OF THE MATERIALS REQUIRED.
The materials the architectural modeller will require for his work, are,
for the most part, few, simple, and inexpensive. They are also easily
procured at any of the Artists’ Repositories. It is not, therefore, so
much in the material employed, but in the skill displayed in the
working, that the beauties of a model consist. The principle in this
description of modelling being, that every possible part be constructed
of paper, it is necessary that this should be procured of the
description best suited to the nature of the work, and of the best
possible quality. Inferior papers are hard, contain knots and other
imperfections, and are very frequently gritty; this latter imperfection,
by destroying the delicate edge of the knife, prevents the work having
that sharp appearance so much to be desired. The paper I use, and have
always found the best for all purposes, has a surface similar to that of
Whatman’s double-elephant drawing paper, and is, I believe, sold under
the name of Crayon paper: a specimen is bound with this book, forming
the _next page_; it is of a pale cream-colour, bearing a strong
semblance in tint to Bath-stone, but I have procured it from this to the
shades necessary for the roofs of models. It is firm, though not hard,
in texture, and not being too spongy, does not absorb to too great a
degree the paste used in fastening together the sheets for the various
thicknesses required, thus ensuring their firmness, a matter of the
highest importance, otherwise in thin strips consisting of four, five,
or more thicknesses of paper, upon their being cut each would part and
defeat the desired end.
The most useful tint of this paper is the one already described, as it
can be easily tinted to represent bricks or rubble, &c., should it be
necessary,—for instance, in a building where the quoins, dressings, &c.,
were in stone, the rest in random rubble or brick, it would enable you
to mark them with a HHH pencil, and tint before your work was made up. I
have constructed several models in pure white Bristol board, but it is a
tedious hard material to work in, though the result is very fine.
The next most important auxiliary is an adhesive material for fastening
the sheets together to produce the necessary thicknesses of cardboard,
and to fix the whole together and the several parts in their places. For
the former a paste of flour made in the following manner, will be found
to be the best. To every two tablespoonfuls of the best wheaten flour,
add a teaspoonful of common moist or brown sugar, and a little corrosive
sublimate, the whole to be boiled, and while boiling continually stirred
to prevent lumps, till of the right consistency. If a few drops of some
essential oil, say lavender or peppermint, be added, the usual
mouldiness will not appear, and the paste will keep for a great length
of time. For the latter, a gum must be used, prepared by the following
proportions. To each six ounces of the best gum arabic, add an ounce or
less of moist or lump sugar, one teaspoonful of lavender or other
essential oil, and a table-spoonful of gin, the whole to be mixed in
_cold_ water (no heat being in any way applied) to the consistency of a
thick syrup.
Other requisites are sheets of mica or talc, to be procured at the
ironmonger’s, and used for windows, skylights, &c.; pieces of soft deal
or beech wood, to form any small detail such as pinnacles to barge
boards, &c., that it may not be advisable or possible to form in paper;
wire, lead, cord, velvet, and numerous other nick-nacks, which will
occur to the modeller as his work proceeds, and which will hereafter, in
their place, be carefully described.