Let us to work then, girls, and see if we cannot accomplish at least as much as our unfortunate sisters, who have neither sight nor hearing to guide them.
The great difficulty we encounter in learning to draw—which is representing things as they appear, not as they really are—will not trouble us in this other department of art, for in modelling it must be our aim to do precisely the reverse, and reproduce an object exactly _as it is_, not as it appears.
Modelling, besides its own worth, is of value as an aid to drawing, for it teaches form, and the shadows on an object can be drawn more intelligently and correctly when it is known just what formations produce them.
A great deal can be done in modelling without the aid of a teacher. So, not waiting to look up a professor, suppose we commence by ourselves and see what we can do. It is very fascinating work, and if a few failures are the result of our first attempt, we need not be discouraged, for what others can do, we also can accomplish.
The writer has lately been initiated into the mysteries of this art, and since, as they say, the person just graduated from a primary department is best fitted to teach in that department, perhaps the hints given here may be better suited to the understanding of beginners than if they were written by a great sculptor, who might forget that everyone does not know, as well as he does himself, the preliminary steps necessary even in accomplishing the grandest results.
Instead of entering into the later and more artistically finished processes we will confine ourselves to the prelude or introduction to modelling; and then, girls, with the object before you, your only guide and instructor, you must work out the rest for yourselves.
1. Clay, such as is used by potters, perfectly free from grit.
2. Modelling-tools. These can be bought at any artists’ material store, and the simplest ones might be made at home of hard wood. Only a few tools are necessary for a beginner; Fig. 162 shows those most useful. The fingers and thumbs are the best of all tools, and a great deal can be done with them, though for fine, delicate modelling tools must be used.
3. Modelling-stand. A regular modelling-stand with rotary platform will cost from eight to twelve dollars and the expense may be an objection; but the writer has found that an ordinary high office-stool with revolving seat makes a good substitute. If the stool is not high enough it can be raised by placing on the seat a drawing- or pastry-board, and on top of that a square wooden box about one foot high and broad enough to allow sufficient room for a good-sized head and bust.