The image shows a traditional run in situ lime arch on its way to completion. The lime mixes are both traditional and batched to be compatible with the existing arch, built up in coats, and run on site. The plumb sections are formed using horse and stock running moulds off battens and the arch formed using a radius gig stick. The side panels are formed from lime scratch, float, and setting coats, and the ashlar lines cut in as the cure proceeds, using feather edge and joint rules, along with leaf and square, and trowel and square small tools. Very little of this type of traditional work is carried out on site these days, but Whitechapel Art Plaster Co Ltd and their crafts people like to keep their hand in, so to speak, so these methods of working are preserved for heritage requirements and sometimes where no other way of working will fit the bill; occasionally the old ways of working are the best.
Whitechapel Art Plaster Co Ltd like to retain county and city craft skills but at the same time embrace innovation and technology where it can be of assistance without taking anything away from the customer service delivery and quality, which our company try to base their ways of working on.
Below is an image of a matching fibrous plaster cornice, formed in our workshop, in the home county of Cheshire.
