ASPIRE Relief Modeling Software
Hello,
I have an exclusive arrangement with the owner of over 2,000 original Victorian plaster molds that were used for creating the architectural ornamentation for most of the "fancy" older buildings and "rich folk's" homes in Detroit, Michigan and surrounding areas. One famous building some of these molds were used for is the Masonic Temple in Detroit, which I have been told, is the largest one in the world.
The items were originally hand-carved by trained artisans who immigrated here in the mid to late 19th century. The carvings were then pressed into hardwood blocks that had a cavity filled with a warmed black pitch substance. Once the pitch cooled, the carving was removed to yield an accurate impression of the carving and used as a plaster or gesso mold. This was how they "mass produced" wood carvings back then. Now, after creating computer models of these originals, we can just start up our CarveWright CNC (or brand-x) machine and carve as many as we want.
I have been using the Vectric Aspire software for reproducing these antique molds to bring them "back to life" for the 21st century (i.e., CNC wood carving). Prior to contacting me, the owner was selling the molds individually as antique "oddities" to collectors. He sold about 1,000 of them, but thank goodness, has stopped and still has 2,000+ for me to convert! This is a work in progress and will keep me busy in my spare time <smile>. We estimate it will take approximately 2 to 3 years to make computer relief models of all of the original molds. Most are beautifully detailed and can be challenging to faithfully capture all the contours, shapes and nuances that came naturally to the artistic eye and hands of the original woodcarving artisans.
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Originally Posted by SteveEJ
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