Our History and Heritage as Plaster Artisans  

Few of our clients or even those in the profession realize what an old and honorable trade it is we practice.   (Yes , we are still talking about plaster casting my friends.)

Plaster contractors were plastering up walls in the ancient biblical city of Jericho 9,000 years ago. Can you believe it! They probably weren't called plaster contractors at that time and they probably got paid in goats instead of good ol' hard cash, but so be it, they still qualify as old timers in the trade.

Not only did residential buildings have plaster walls in those days but several religious shrines have been excavated at  Jericho  and other sites in the area which have extensive plaster work. Bulls heads seem to have been a popular theme in those days.  What is notable about the shrines at Jericho and at other sites in the near East (what was Mesopotamia) is the high degree of detail found in the plaster reliefs and that they are still intact after so many millennia.

But what is more astounding at the biblical Jericho site is not the mere plastering of walls. What we find truly fascinating here is that local artisans   had a nifty little trade going,  fashioning plaster over human skulls. This is a branch of the business which hasn't seen much work lately. With great care and expertise they modeled facial features and plaster musculature right on human bone. They delicately inlaid sea shells in the eye sockets and after all was said and done, they painted hair and even moustaches on the plaster likenesses. The effect is said to be strikingly lifelike

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These reworked skulls were not buried after this painstaking process but were displayed prominently above ground.  Now go ahead, tell me after all that effort you wouldn't be proud to display such fine workmanship on your coffee table for the admiration of  family and friends!

"My! Aunt Martha looks so lifelike! and I love the way you handled that delicate little problem she had with  the moustache."

This is part of our heritage plaster crafters. No wonder so many of us take to this medium with such zeal and ease.

Not to far away in another part of the near East  the Egyptians are are preparing to make a bid on plastering up the pyramids. crafters.  They   start plastering up  temple walls  so that the scribes can cover them with hieroglyphic writing.

As in Jericho the Egyptians aren't just satisfied to have  crews of highly qualified mud slingers laying up plaster walls. Before long they developed other highly trained specialized plaster trades to handle sculpture, plaster mold making and plaster figure casting.

When the working quarters of the sculptor Thutmose were discovered in 1912, it was one of the greatest finds in the history of Egyptology.

In case you think that the sculptors in Egypt were just another lowly class of workers like the slaves that rolled 20 ton rocks up a ramp to build the pyramids, take note:

• The head sculptor Thutmose in circa 1350 B.C. had an expansive walled compound which contained 4 granaries, numerous gardens, pools, living quarters for apprentices and of course a studio for the production of the highest quality artwork. When archeologists broke through the mud brick wall to the studio, it afforded us a 3000 year old glimpse into the activities of what had been a working Egyptian sculpture studio. In the workshop, over 20 plaster casts were discovered which had been made over clay models.  A whole range of sculptures lay about in various degrees of completion. Plaster sculptures were found as well as carved stone heads of notable Egyptians.

The work done at the Egyptian studios was truly extraordinary in execution, but one sculpted piece stands out far and above all the others. Experts agree it must have been completed by the master himself. It is the head of Queen Nefertiti which many have called the finest sculpture created in all of Egypt. It certainly would rank near the top of the list. It is delicately modeled and precise in every aspect.

In the Egyptian studio system, the master would mark the sculptures in progress with an ink pen where he wanted changes made. The apprentices would then busily set about making the changes and refinements. Eventually everything pleased the masters discerning eye and the sculpture would go off to take its place in Egyptian history.  In the drawing below the master sculptor Iuty is showing an assistant where to make changes. Other sculptors are working on pieces in the background. Notice the sculptor shaving his asp with the carving asp while sitting on his stool.  I don't know what  the symbols are supposed to be coming out of his mouth.  If it 's like most places I've worked in, he's probably complaining that the boss is a slave driver.

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To be sure, advances have been made in the production of plaster since the Messopotanians started using it.  Extensive deposits of fine gypsum in France made Plaster of Paris a household name and distribution has brought plaster to the masses. The Tudor and Jacobean periods saw plaster become an ornate fashion with elaborate enrichments of walls and ceilings. The restoration of them  has become a trade in itself.  The popularity of plaster has waned and swelled throughout history but it has always been there in the background ,a constant that always could be depended on as an economical, easy to use ornamental  and functional material. The field is wide open for creative and ambitious people to start new businesses using the technology of today. Seeing what our forbears have accomplished with stone knives and wooden sticks how much more should we be able to do from where we are.

So this is the heritage from which our business springs. Now most of us aren't ready to go out and plaster up our relatives skulls and it is true that you can't spend goats as readily as you used to, but all in all, it's a pretty descent profession; one that allows for creative fulfillment and a comfortable lifestyle. At least it beats rolling 20 ton rocks up a ramp in the hot desert sun.

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