"I can create this on the Lathe"

We are continuing to work on the missing elements in the entablature design that graces the top of the courtroom in Roberts County. There apparently was a piece that is what I call a bead and reed design. It runs eather at the top or bottom of the entablature. We know that it runs next to the factious leaf design that we put together because it was connected to the side of one of the larger pieces of that design. It is very full of paint and is very fragile so cleaning off the globs of paint would just destroy the only original piece of the element we have.

Matt, my son, came up with the ides of turning a new piece using a lathe. He set up the lathe and put two pieces of poplar wood together using double sided tape. Then he installed it into the lath and started slowing recreating the element using great care to exactly match the original piece. After carving out the design the then removed it from the lath and pulled the piece apart where it was stuck together this created two exactly matching pieces that were what we needed.

Ken and Dan in our shop also ran a run on the bench that represented the base of the element. They cut out a sheet of metal that matched the profile of the base of the original piece. Mounted it to a “Horse” and ren it along our run table slicing off the wet plaster until they were able to have a perfect base for our piece. They then hung it up to dry.

I poured a rubber mold of the bead and reed that Matt2 created. Ken in our shop will then cast me some pieces of the bead and reed and I will be able to put them together along the base and complete the model. I suspect that I will have all the elements to create the model be Thursday. I will cover the creation of the model when all the parts are ready to assemble.