§ 56 The Piece-Mould in Plaster
When this, which they call the model, is finished and brought to this point of perfection, they then begin, with plaster that will set, to build over it piece by piece, making the pieces correspond to the relief of the model. On every piece they make a key, marking the pieces with numbers or letters of the alphabet or with other signs in order that the pieces can be taken off and register together. So they mould it part by part, oiling the pieces of the cast where the edges have to be connected; till from piece to piece the figure grows, the head, the arms, the body and the legs, to the last detail, in such a manner that the concave of the statue, that is the hollow mould, comes to be imprinted on the inner surface with all the parts and with the very minutest marking which is in the model.170 This completed, the plaster casts are laid aside to harden.