XXIV: Mould &/or cast

 

see also: chap. III: Type

 

content

History of the word „mould“

Synonyms for "mould"

Some definitions of „mould“

Material as well as abstract and poetic significance

Forming of bricks

Baking tins

Beauty of bronze casting

Iron casting

1 - 1500: Printing forms for textiles

Printing on paper

Cast - copies

„Mould“ in dentistry and „moulage“ in criminal investigation

Industrial multiplication

 

 

History of the word „mould“

 

„Mould“ (American: „mold“) is the first derivation of Latin „modulus“ in the modern languages.

 

„Modulus“ has been absorbed from the 11th -14th century for pattern  and mold as

„Modul“ und „Model“ by German, as

„modle“, “mole” and „moule“ by French, as

„mòdano“ by Italian and as

„mould“ by English.

 

 

Synonyms for "mould"

 

Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus (1993):

 

1. cast, die, form, matrix, pattern, shape, stamp

2. brand, build, configuration, construction, cut, design, fashion, form, format, frame, kind, line, make, pattern, shape, stamp, structure, style

3. calibre, character, ilk, kidney, kind, nature, quality, sort, stamp, type

 

 

Some definitions of „mould“

 

This field of meaning of model goes back to the Greek “typos” (form, sculpture, mould, figuration, type), Latin "forma" (figure, mould, casting - but not type).

 

We remember the synonyms, presented in Randle Cotgrave’s (1611) dictionary of French-English:

“Modeler: To modell, forme, fashion, plot, cast in a mould.

Modelle (f.): A modell, patterne, mould, plot, forme, frame.“

as well as:

“Moule (m.): A mould (wherein a thing is cast, formed, or forged;)

Moulé: m.ée. (f.) Moulded; cast, or framed in a mould.

Mouler. To mould, or cast in a mould; to frame, or forge by mould;

also, to appoint a mould for, prescribe a size unto.

Moulerie (f): A moulding; a forging by mould, a casting in a mould.”

 

In the French "Encyclopédie" (1765, vol. 10) we read under „modèle“:

"dans les ouvrages de fonte, le modèle est en quelque façon l'ouvrage même, dont le métal prend la forme; la matière seule en fait la différence"

"une couche de ciment & de terre, de la forme de la cloche qu'on veut fondre, & de la même épaisseur que la cloche doit avoir".

 

Sometimes the form and the formed have the same designation, e g. cast, seal, stamp and type. In the „Oxford English Dictionary“ we read under „mould“ in the realm of cookery:

„A hollow vessel, often of decorative shape, in which a mixture is made or left to set, so as to assume the same shape. Also: a pudding, etc., made in such a vessel.“

In a „Concise Oxford Dictionary“ we read shorter:

"a metal or earthenware vessel used to give shape to puddings etc. - a pudding etc. made in this way".

 

Today the "model joiner" does no longer make tables, but " wooden or synthetic models for the mold for metallic machines and implements or parts of them". The "model locksmith" shapes such forming devices not only in metal, but also from gypsum.

 

Rolf Roller et al. (2003) differentiate four kinds of model-making:

View model-making (e. g. architecural models, machine models)

Production model-making

            Casting model-making

            Mould making (e. g. coquilles)

            Vehicle body model-making.

 

for further definitions see:

Fig. 78: Mould: definitions

 

 

Material as well as abstract and poetic significance

 

Not only bricks, pastries and metal can be formed or cast. Other materials include plaster, clay and wax, gypsum and pulp, and since around 1850, also plastics of all kinds.

 

Moulding or casting can also be used in the abstract sense, e. g. the distinctive nature of a person or thing; something which gives shape, or a set of assumptions - as well as in a poetic sense, e. g. the body of a person.

 

 

Forming of bricks

 

Hollow forms (Latin often: forma, proplastice, proplasma) have been used for more than 10,000 years to form bricks, pastries, metals, etc.

 

Among the first cast objects were bricks. As early as 8350 BC we find bricks formed by hand (Jericho). Soon the bricks were cast in wooden forms and dried in air. Around 6000 BC there was a flourishing village in southern Anatolia, Çatal Hüyük, built of largely standardized oblong houses, constructed of walls of plastered bricks and flat roofs kept up by wooden posts.

The town of Mohenjo Daro (2500 BC) in India was entirely built with burnt bricks.

 

 

Baking tins

 

A long history have hollow forms for pastries (Max Währen 1968, 1972; Herbert Kürth 1981; Edith Hörander 1982). Baking tins have been found in Mohenjo Daro (2500 BC).

 

The oldest preserved baking tin from the Middle Ages dates from the second half of the 13th century and are from limestone. From the 15th century about 150 models survived in middle Europe, particularly from tone, and also from slate and other stones. Representative, large models up to 40 centimetres in diameter start from 1500. Usually they were carved in wood and used for marzipan, gingerbread and honey cake (Swiss: „Tirggel“).

 

bibliography:

model: special topics - Back- und Buttermodel

 

 

Beauty of bronze casting

 

The history of metal casting goes back to 4000 BC. Since about 3700 BC  (Sialk III) copper objects have been cast in moulds of stone. Rich illustrated chronicles can be found by Karl Stölzel (1978), Heinz Wübbenhorst (1984) and Dean A. Freytag (1995).

 

From Antiquity almost no bronze statues have survived because they could be easily melted down. Artistic casting was widely used in the dark Middle Ages. Outstanding examples are:

·        the Torslund badges of the Vikings, reliefs of bronze of the 7th century

·        the the gold-plated plate showing the coronation of Agilulf, king of the Langobards (7th century)

·        the „Wolfstüren“ (wolf doors) at the main entrance of the Dome of Aachen by the  steelwork of Charlemagne (around 800)

·        the bronze statuette of Charlemange  on horseback (9th century)

·        the „Thron des Dagobert“ (throne of Dagobert), a bronze  deck chair form the church of the Abbey of St. Denis (early 9th century)

·        the bronce portals of the Dome of Hildesheim (of St. Bernward 1015)

·        the nearly 4 meter tall column of Bernward in the Dome of Hildesheim (1020)

·        the baptismal font cast of brass of Rainer de Huy in the church St. Barthélemy in Liège (1118)

·        the bronze door of the west  portal of San Zeno in Verona (1138)

·        the lion of Braunschweig (1166)

·        the bronze door of the  church of Sophia in Nowgorod (around 1200)

·        the bronze baptismal font in the Dome of Hildesheim (1225)

·        the bronze doors of the Florentine Baptisteriums (Andrea Pisano 1356)

·        the bronze reliefs of Antonio del Pollaiuolo for gravestone of pope Sixtus IV. (um 1490)

·        the tomb of Sebaldus in Nuremberg, cast of brass around 1500.

 

Since the 11th century cast bronze bells were used by the church. Tin for ordinary use is prevalent since the 12th century in Europe.

 

The only preserved mediaeval book describing the technique of casting is from Theophilus Presbyter (1122/23). It is the first manual for the artistically minded goldsmith and metal craftsman (Brepohl, 1987; 1999).

 

The first free standing human sculptures have been by

·        Donatello: „David" (1430), „Judith and Holofernes“ 1455-60);

·        Verrocchio („Il Condottiere Colleoni“ 1490);

·        Michelangelo („Ppoe Julius II., not preserved); and

·        Giovanni da Bologna („Bathing Venus“ around 1580).

 

Leonardo da Vinci was unsuccessful when casting bronze sculptures, as he reports in his diaries. Of Benvenuto Cellini’s „Perseus“ (1554) the model has been preserved. Cellini has carefully described how he cast his figures.

 

bibliography:

model: special topics – Giesserei

model: special topics – Theophilus Presbyter

 

 

Iron casting

 

Casting of iron starts around 1300, first for boundary stakes, soon also for cannon balls and gun barrels.

Since 1500 there are preserved many iron tiles of stoves full of pictures. They were formed with wooden stamps.

 

 

1 - 1500: Printing forms for textiles

 

Printing forms for textiles (German: „Zeugdruck“) have also a long history

 

In Japan a kind of printed textiles were known in the first century AD. According to Robert Forrer real prints on bright, uncoloured linen are known since the 4th century from Egypt and since the 7th century from Europe and the Coptic areas of North Africa; likewise Chinese colour prints on silk.

 

The Gothic picture prints were devotion pictures in woodcut technology. Some prints served also as patterns for embroideries, i. e. they were over-stitched by hand. Beautiful examples have survived since the 13th century.

First documentary records of form cutters, i. e. carvers of the wooden printing models, originate from the year 1397 from Nuremberg and 1398 from Ulm. The models were used both for textile printing as well as for printing block books (popular books with woodcuts and short texts). The ornament stitch developed around 1450.

 

bibliography:

model: special topics - Zeugdruck

 

 

Printing on paper

 

In 175 AD Chinese scholars began to cut the main works of classical Chineses literature in stone plates. From these plates thousands of poor copies were made: dampened paper was pressed onto the plates and then smoothed out with a brush and ink, so that the carved signs stood out in white among the black background.

 

Printing with mobile type characters is said to be practiced in China already around 1040. In Europe Johannes Gutenberg introduced it around 1440. After printing the whole bible he lost goods and chattels in a court case and died as a broken man – his name fell into oblivition.

 

bibliography:

model: special topics - Drucktypen, Lettern, „modèles des charactères“

 

 

Cast - copies

 

For various reasons mostly craftsmen make casts or plaster copies (German: Abgüsse), e. g. in Archaeology or for the protection of historical objects.

In Old Rome we had also the „cerae“ (imagines, effigies), in the Renaissance we had wax figures, later wax work.

 

Already in Randle Cotgrave’s Dictionary French-English (1611) we find e. g.:

Mouler un visage. To take the fashion or print of a face by covering it with plaister, etc.

 

 

„Mould“ in dentistry and „moulage“ in criminal investigation

 

In dentistry a plaster copy of the set of teeth is used in order to construct and adjust a dental prosthesis.

 

in the course of a criminal investigation a „moulage“ of a footprint is made as evidence.

 

 

Industrial multiplication

 

Since around 1840 some objects or parts of devices were produced in great quantities - often with the help of moulds.

 

For industrial multiplication without moulds see:

chap. XV: original &/or copy.