Don Lewis of Big Falls, Belize, Central America wanted to know my carving techniques

1. Jack Corbo
Monolithic Replicas
**************
South Euclid, Ohio 44121 USA
**************
05.07.07
Hi Don,
Received your letter post dated January 2, 07. It’s said that the only truly free
individual in society is the artist. Glad to hear you’re interested in making Mayan reliefs.
I wasn’t sure if you wanted to know just the molding process or the entire method of
making relief replicas from start to finish. So I decided to send the entire shebang to be
used as a sort of manual. Although the directions at first glance will look complicated,
once they are read, I’m sure you will find them to be straightforward and in practice
become second nature. I think if you can get a number of other people interested in
making Mayan reliefs, you will have a large enough selection to attract the patronage of
gift shops and even collectors.
One advantage of working with modeling clay is that you can take as long as you
like on the original and if you make a mistake, it can be easily changed (unlike carving
stone where you have to work into the design the mistake carved). Some of my releifs
you have on your wall took six months to carve the originals, though I didn’t work on
them everyday. My technique is to emphasize quality carvings through patients and
persistence with no regard for the amount of time it takes to make them. Otherwise, a
quick and dirty approach will have you ending up with a pale imitation of the original
carving. If you get tired of carving, you can set it aside for a few days or even a few
months. As I said in my last letter, once you get setup, I think you will find the carving
very satisfying and will provide at worst a false feeling of accomplishment and at best a
successful small business. The clay is best carved when its temperature is between 70ºF
and 80ºF. Above 90ºF, it is too pasty and becomes like carving peanut butter. For this
reason, don’t leave the clay carving in the tropical sun for an extended period of time.
Heated clay can become runny and you will have to start over (if you put clay in a your
microwave it will become fluid). You might even want to try making a space in your
refrigerator to store the clay carving if you cannot find a cool enough place in your home
to store them.
Flexible silicone or polyurethane molds can be cast so that several plaster copies
of each relief can be produced per day (plaster usually takes one hour to harden). The
molds are very durable and should last up to twenty years or, if well cared for,
indefinitely. The mold making process can also be applied to actual artifacts. If I
remember correctly, you have a large flint knife blade found on your farm. A compound
mold (two piece) can be made of it and used to make plaster or polyurethane knife blade
replicas. I can write to you next time if you want to know how to make this type of mold.
You might also want to inquire on what are the Belize requirements for a US equivalent
of a copyright. It would be a pity to put a lot of work in a carving and have someone
pirate a second-generation mold and sell unauthorized casts without paying you any

2. royalties or giving you credit as the carver. I remember Vic Chaco was planning to
become a lawyer, I have lost touch with him, but he could be a source of legal advice if
he did pursue this degree.
Ben Rash may be persuaded for a fee to distribute plaster casts of your relief to
shops in cities that the bus line brings him to as a conductor (Belize City, Belmopan,
Punta Gorda, Placentia or San Ignacio). If your grandson Ralph still works at the Turtle
Inn, maybe he can persuade the management to sell your artwork their gift shop. A
Californian company (Valley Anatomical Preparations) that normally sells
paleontological replicas is “very interested” and has agreed to sell my replicas on their
web store site. I ‘ll drop ship orders here from Cleveland to customers. This is the
company that I bought the ground sloth skull shown in the lab picture attached last time I
wrote. I think this will be the most efficient way of advertising my replicas. This
company can pay for construction of the web page and I can concentrate on casting the
replicas and send them off to fill the orders. There is always a chance of being cheated,
but, when referred to the owner of the company by a fossil dealer fourteen years ago, he
gave a reputable impression of her. In the unlikely case that I would be overwhelmed
with orders, this company could also take care of the casting as they already are set up for
paleontological cast productions. It would be analogous to the relationship between a
writer and a book publisher. I would make the original, own the copyright to authorize
and be paid royalties for the copies. If this pans out, you should be able to see my reliefs
advertised on their web page in June
If you are successful in making this into a business, maybe we could sell each
other’s art. I would be in charge of the North American division and you could be in
charge of the of the Central American division (50% of price royalties?). We can also
coordinate what artwork we plan to carve to avoid duplicating work. For instance, after
finishing lintel 24, I plan next to carve a 1:1 scale replica of the jade head that is on your
stamps. It will be based on some drawings Phil Wanyerka gave me last year. I can use
concrete color mineral pigments (look up Davis Concrete Color on the web) that can be
added to wet plaster to make it green. Applying polyurethane varnish to the surface of the
hardened cast can simulate polished jade. Incidentally, a lawyer donated to Cleveland
State University his extensive library of Mayan art books. If you can’t find the drawings
you would like to carve on the web, I may be able to send you copies from the library.
Write to me about what you need and what size.
I saw Phil Wanyerka last fall. He’s recovered from his heart attach with an
exception of a small limp. At the time he was teaching a reduce course load of one class.
As I understand it he was also placed in charge of the university’s Maya Hieroglyphic
Weekend that occurs at the end of October each year. Previously a permanent staff of
several people was responsible for this project. But once their salary cut in half by
university austerity measures, they resigned to work for a United Nations office in
Cleveland. Now it seems that Phil is doing the work of several people, not a good work
situation for someone recovering from a heart attack. Peter Dunham seems to have gotten
over his fathers death. I sat in a few weeks last fall on a class he was teaching on the
faults of pseudo sciences. My impression is that he’s currently trying to gain some
expertise in Ohio archeology as I remember one student telling me of a site south of
Cleveland that both he and Peter were going to visit as a potential graduate research
project. I recommended to the student to contact an archeologist named Al Lee to go

3. along also. I worked with Al as a volunteer at the Cleveland Natural History Museum on
Saturdays for over ten years when I was working as a research chemist in industry in the
1980s. Al has an extensive knowledge of the Cleveland area’s urban archeology as well
as its industrial, prehistoric and historic archeology.
About the white frog in the upper Bladen River, the best way to capture a
specimen is to write a grant proposal for funds and lead a Dunham style expedition back
into the area. I was hoping you could help out by asking Ben Rash to write an affidavit,
giving a description of frog, who else saw it on Dunham’s expedition and general
location, year and month seen, with his signature and yours (also his address) as a witness
to the affidavit and send it to me. I asked him in a letter last year but did not receive a
reply; maybe you will have better luck by finding some way to twist his arm. I would
like to include it in a National Science Foundation grant proposal to provide credibility to
my claim that it may be a species unknown to science. My strategy is to pair up with a
herpetologist with some reputation whose co-authorship may provide enough clout to get
the grant approved. But first I plan to write about the sighting in local herpetology club
newsletter (NOAH; Northern Ohio Association of Herpetology) to document that Ben,
Besh Rash and I were the first to observe and describe this frog.
Regrettably my petitions to extend the time to complete my Ph.D. research were
not approved. I was offered to downgrade the degree to a second M.S. since all of the
coursework needed for it had been completed. I refuse this option as a protest.
I wrote the attached “how to manual” in a spirit of collaboration rather than to a
future competitor. I hope you will read it in the same spirit. Write me on how
understandable it was to read or what sections need further clarification. There are some
other tricks to carving, but I am concerned that you might be scared off from giving you
too much information. I can write on how to carve believable eccentric flints from clay to
be molded and then cast out of polyurethane but this can be done in a future letter. You
should have received by now a catalogue from Blick Art Materials. They do ship to
Belize with an extra charge of roughly $30 (US). Everything you might need can be
found in this catalogue. I will refer to the item number and page of their products that
will be useful in carving the reliefs and making the molds. I also made an improvised
tool use to make the borders of the relief vertical and to the same height all along its
perimeter. A second tool I think you might want is commercially available makes the
borders of the relief all the same width. I can also send the paint brushes to treat the
background and figures in the relief to give them an aged look. It’s a bit tricky to get the
right type of brush for this effect and the course brush has to be slightly modified. Let me
know if you want me to send these tools. Hope all is well in Big Falls. Looking forward
to receiving some copies of your carved reliefs or pictures of any captured white frogs
(remember to give Phil those frog flyers I sent last year).
Best regards,
Jack Corbo
Founder, President and sole employee of Monolithic Replicas

4. Methods of Making Plaster Replicas of Mayan Reliefs
By
Jack Corbo
Monolithic Replicas
************
South Euclid, Ohio 44121 USA
2007

5. I Carving Clay Reliefs
1. You might want to first start with a small simple project such as an emblem glyph.
I suggest one you’re well acquainted with, the Copan emblem glyph with the
dimensions of 6x6x1 inches with a 0.75 inch wide border around its perimeter. Let
me know if you want me to make a drawing to use as a template. I’ve always
wanted to make a series of all the known emblem glyphs that conform to this 6x6
inch square format. If we both agree to follow this size format and coordinate what
we make, maybe this series can be completed. Imagine your walls covered with a
matrix of twenty or more of these glyphs.
2. Obtain a copy of a drawing of the Mayan relief you want to carve. I recommend
choosing one that is complete, well preserved and well known as an example of
Mayan art. Once you have gained experience carving an emblem glyph, enlarge the
drawing of an actual relief on a copying machine to the desired size of roughly a
foot high. You can copy enlarged sections and tape them together if your copier
cannot handle this size all at once. One foot high to me seems to be the ideal size.
Smaller size replicas sell for less than larger replicas. Sizes larger than a foot
would not easily fit into a tourist’s suitcase may be too bulky and crack under its
own weight. Recommend also obtaining a copy of a photograph of the actual relief
to give you an idea of the depth of the relief. Drawings usually are not good at all
for this depth estimation and at times can be inaccurate. A photograph of the relief
can be used as a double check or the drawing can be used to clarify portions of the
photograph.
3. Place the appropriate amount of clay (Blick 2006 catalogue item no. C33208-2523,
page 438, extra-hard gray-green roma plastilina) on to a smooth half inch flat
wooden board (or half inch thick Plexiglas sheet) cut at least two inches wider than
the dimensions of the drawing (this will allow space for the mold wall to form).
Spread the modeling clay to roughly the size of the drawing of the enlarge relief
drawing and 1.5 inches thick (for a one foot replica). You can at this time place the
clay in the sun to make it warm and easier to flatten. Place another board on top
and use a hammer on it or stand on top of it to flatten the clay to a level 1.5 inches.
Then remove the top board, smooth over the gaps with your fingers by adding bits
of clay and place top board back on to re-flatten the surface by standing on it again.
Remove top board again and you should now have a smooth flattened piece of clay
attached to the bottom board slightly larger than the drawing of the relief you want
to replicate.
4. Trim with scissors the enlarged photocopy of the drawing to its boarder. Place the
trimmed photocopy of the drawing onto the surface of the flattened clay. Press on
it lightly on the drawing so that it adheres to the clay slab. Trim the clay with a
knife to the size of the relief drawing. You should have now a bottom board with a
slab of clay 1.5 inches thick and the size of the drawing with the drawing adhered
to the top surface.
5. Transfer the pattern of the drawing of the relief to the surface of the clay below by
using a pin (a larger women’s hat pin might be easier to handle) and making a
series of piercing holes along the lines of the relief drawing to the clay below in a

6. sewing machine fashion (spaced about 2 mm apart). This might seem a laborious
task but I found it usually takes about of an hour to complete. Once all the lines in
the relief drawing have been pierced in this manor, the drawing of the relief can be
peeled off and you should have a bottom board with a 1.5 inch slab of clay to the
dimensions of the relief drawing and a pattern of pin holes piercing the surface of
the clay that resemble the relief you want to carve.
6. Estimate from the photograph the depth of the relief. Use improvised tools such as
jeweler’s screwdrivers or cut up pieces of old credit cards as mini-spatulas to dig
out the clay to the desired depth for the background. The head of a nail can be used
to mini-tamp down the rough surfaces you carved out. Also use the cut up credit
card spatulas to inscribe in the clay details such as eyes, hair and so on (the
thickness of the credit card is just right for this purpose). You will develop your
own style and tools eventually, but I think you get an idea.
7. Use soft letter paintbrush (Blick 2006 catalogue no. C05570-1001, page 121, 1/16”
ox hair lettering brush) to round off the edges of the figures in the relief so it looks
less like a cookie cutter carving and use a stiff course brush for the relief’s
background (Blick 2006 catalogue item no. C05160-4012, page 119, ½” bristle
brush). A course brush will stipple the clay background so that it will hold more
carbon black (soot), making the background darker in the finished plaster cast
(look at the background of lintel 25 hanging on your wall). I recommend you do
most of the carving lying on your hammock or couch rather than upright in a chair,
it is much easier on your back this way. Have an oscillating fan blowing on you
with a TV or radio at hands reach to relieve the tedium. You can hold the board
with one hand vertically on your chest and use the other hand free to carve. Have
an adjustable light above the relief with a magnifier (see attached add). I also
recommend a compact fluorescent light bulb which gives off less heat. This makes
it more comfortable for you to carve and doesn’t heat up the clay as much. Have
the drawing of the relief as well as the photograph of the relief on hand nearby to
refer to as you carve. When nearly finished, place the top board over the finished
relief so that half is covered and use a tooth pick as a depth gage to insure that the
background depth over the entire relief is the same (use the top of the board as a
reference line). This may seem trivial but it makes the finished relief look more
professional. If you work too long on a carving there’s always a danger of being
over critical. Periodically hold the carving up to a mirror or view it upside-down to
get a fresh view as through a customer eyes. Another trick to get a fresh view of
the carving that you been staring at for months is to view it in natural sunlight in
the late afternoon with the light grazing the surface. For some reason if you hold at
the right angle it always looks better. Once the relief is finished, a soft paintbrush
(Blick 2006 catalogue no. C05859-4012, page 97, soft flat 1/2” brush) is swirled
over the relief figures and relief borders to give them a weathered appearance.
8. I recommend inscribing a “©” followed by the year finished and your name
somewhere obvious on the clay relief in case you want an US copyright to be
made. They cost roughly $20(US) and require a photograph of the relief. You
usually need some sort of unique claim as to qualify it as derivative art (current art
based in part on previous art) to get a copyright. Simple scale reduction or making
it of different material (plaster versus limestone) does not qualify the relief as

7. derivative art. What I found works is to make the relief more of a high and rounded
relief by carving any figures in the relief such that where it meets the background it
is curved or tucked under the figure. When looking at the relief straight on, the
seam where the figure meets the background can‘t be seen (take a close look at the
reliefs I gave you). I believe the French call this a bas-relief. Most Mayan reliefs
appear to be made in a cookie cutter style where the relief figures are not tucked
under but are joined perpendicular from the figure to the relief background.
Another thing you might want to try that I haven’t yet is to slightly modify the
figures in the relief. Carve a fingernail on a Mayan figure in the relief backwards.
This may seem odd and trivial but I based this advise on a well-known story of a
toy manufacturer who made the GI Joe doll. We he first made the doll, he was
unable to get his toy copyrighted since the US copyright office claimed human
anatomy could not be copyrighted. He simply resubmitted the toy copyright
application with a toy GI Joe doll that had fingernail carved on the inside of the
thumb and this slight modification, though anatomically incorrect, got him the
copyright. In short you need some sort of significant (or insignificant) modification
of a previous made piece of art to be given a US copyright on your art, even if the
original piece of art was made 1000 years earlier. If I remember correctly, a US
copyright lasts seventy-six years and you could, in theory, potentially provide
some income for your great-great grand children. You should also check what are
the requirements and markings needed for an equivalent copyright in Belize (for
that matter in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras) before you make a mold of the
relief.
.
II Mold Making
9. Construct a wooden wall about three inches above and two inches beyond the
perimeter of the clay relief that is still attached to the baseboard. Seal all seems
with extra clay so that the molding compound does not leak out. Use clamps or
screw the dike form together to prevent the mold falling apart from the increased
pressure of the form filled with the mold-making compound. As a precaution I
would not make a mold above a carpet. If the mold form leaks to the floor, the
carpet will be ruined.
10. Mix the silicone mold making compound (Blick 2006 catalogue item no. C33562-
6040, page 429, smooth-on-do 30 silcone) well and then use a disposable
paintbrush to initially paint the mold compound onto the clay relief without
causing damage to the clay carving. Painting the mould-making compound will
lessen the chance of entrapping small air bubbles forming on the relief’s surface.
If plaster casts are made from a mold with this defect, the bubble voids fill with
plaster causing figures in the cast relief to have the look of chicken pox. Once this
is done and you are satisfied that no air bubbles have formed, then slowly pour the
whole mixture onto the relief. It’s best to have the mold one inch thick at its base.
Keep an eye on the setup for any mold compound leaks forming around the dyke.
If they do leak, pack small pieces of clay into the leaking area
11. Let the mold making setup cure for at least a day. Test to see if it has polymerized
(rubberized) by touching the mold surface to determine if it is still sticky.

8. 12. Once the mold has turned to rubber (no longer sticky), remove the wooden walls of
the mold form and gently peel the mould off the clay relief so as not to damage
clay carving. Preserving the clay relief is a precaution against defective molds. It
saves time by eliminating the need to carve the relief from scratch again if your
first attempt to make the mold failed and a second attempt at making a mold is
needed. This may seem an unlikely precaution, but I have already had this happen
twice.
III Casting Plaster Replicas
13. Plaster is the best material to cast replicas. It hardens in about an hour after mixing
and if a good quality will not break easily. The one problem with plaster is that it is
white. I found that mixing a little black concrete coloring agent (or green coloring
agent to simulate jade) gives the hardened plaster a more realistic gray color for
limestone relief replicas. I may be able to send you some of the black concrete
color if you can’ t find any in Punta Gorda. Mix the mineral dye in the mixing
water first before mixing it with the dry plaster powder to insure it is evenly
distributed in the plaster mix. I found that if you add the dye to the plaster paste
mix directly, you will have a heterogeneous mixture and would most likely find
black splotches on the surface of your finished cast. When mixing the plaster I
found it useful to line the mixing bowl with a small plastic garbage bag held
around the rim with a large rubber band. This eases cleanup if the plaster hardens
before you can rinse it out of the bowl and eliminates the problem of inevitable
residual plaster fragments ending up in future mixes and showing up at the surface
of subsequent casts. The plaster mix should have enough water in it to give it the
consistency of manias with no lumps (you might want to use a dust mask and dish
washing gloves for this). Too stiff a mix may not be fluid enough to fill in the all
the details of the mold. Pour a small amount of plaster mix into the mold at first
and then use a your fingers to make sure the plaster has gone into all the details of
the mold. Air bubbles can ruin a cast. Sharp angles like the borders of a relief or
details of the mold that have mini-ledges are likely areas to entrap air bubbles. I
recommend that you poke you finger in all areas that you suspect can trap air and
later with a red magic marker mark on a copy of the drawing all the areas were air
voids have shown up in casts. The drawing can then be tapped up in front of your
casting work area to remind you to poke your fingers into these red zones of the
mold to prevent the entrapment of air. Once you are sure there are no air bubbles
in cast mold, pour the rest of the plaster mix into mold and shake table a little to
make the plaster level. Take a flat piece of wood with a straight edge and drag it
across or screed the top of the mold to further level the plaster. Have a small piece
of wire bent in the shape of a “ ┌┐ “ ahead of time (the two diagonal portions of
the diagram represent the wire coming directly perpendicularly out of the page and
the other directly below the plane of this paper). The bent wire is placed in the wet
plaster to act as a hanger (see the back of the reliefs I gave you to get an idea of
where to place them, how high from the back of the relief the hangers extend and
what gauge of wire to use). This configuration of the wire with the both ends bent

9. at opposite right angles prevents it from being pulled out of the hardened plaster
cast and allows it to stand upright on its own in the wet plaster paste.
14. Peel the mold off the hardened plaster cast and then inspect the cast for any defects
such as air bubbles, cracks or pigment splotches. If it seems like a good cast then
submerse it in a pale of water for a few hours. This will saturate the pores in the
plaster cast with water. Remove the cast from the water and hold it horizontally so
that puddles of water form in the background of the relief. Use a paint brush and
dip it into a the carbon black (powdered charcoal, write me if you need some) then
dip it into the puddles of water so that background of the relief turns black. Repeat
this action for each different puddle that form in the background of the relief and
then dip the brush in the puddle to paint the rest of the relief with this background
darkened puddle water. What you should end up with is a plaster cast is lying flat
with puddles of dark water in the background of the relief and less dark carbon
black smeared over the figures and borders of the relief. This in effect antiques the
cast giving it a cameo-like appearance. Use a piece of old bed-sheet to wipe the
figures clean of excess carbon black, leave the puddles of carbon black in the
background untouched (don’t use a towel, terry cloth may be too adsorbent). You
will find that this makes the detailing of the casts figures stand out. I found that
several hour presoak mentioned before prevents the carbon black from being
absorbed too much, otherwise the figures in the cast will be too dark or even have
the look of being painted sooty black. There should still be puddles of darkened
water in the background. Place the wet relief in the sun to dry. This should take
roughly a day, much less if it is a hot day. The dry plaster cast with carbon black
smeared over it then is dry brushed to remove the excess carbon black. Dry
brushing is what the name implies. Dust off the excess carbon black with a stiff
brush on the cast relief’s background, figures and borders until it looks good to
you. Once you are satisfied with the carbon black antiquing, I usually apply to the
cast a spray plastic to fix the remaining carbon black so it won’t flake off. I found
an inexpensive and readily available source for this plastic spray is women’s
hairspray (polyester should be listed in the contents of the air spray). A product
available in the US called “Aqua Net” works well.
15. Write an information sheet about the relief. Most costumers are interested in
interpreting the hieroglyphs and the overall meaning of the relief. I have included
one of my sheets for lintel 25 as an example.

10. at opposite right angles prevents it from being pulled out of the hardened plaster
cast and allows it to stand upright on its own in the wet plaster paste.
14. Peel the mold off the hardened plaster cast and then inspect the cast for any defects
such as air bubbles, cracks or pigment splotches. If it seems like a good cast then
submerse it in a pale of water for a few hours. This will saturate the pores in the
plaster cast with water. Remove the cast from the water and hold it horizontally so
that puddles of water form in the background of the relief. Use a paint brush and
dip it into a the carbon black (powdered charcoal, write me if you need some) then
dip it into the puddles of water so that background of the relief turns black. Repeat
this action for each different puddle that form in the background of the relief and
then dip the brush in the puddle to paint the rest of the relief with this background
darkened puddle water. What you should end up with is a plaster cast is lying flat
with puddles of dark water in the background of the relief and less dark carbon
black smeared over the figures and borders of the relief. This in effect antiques the
cast giving it a cameo-like appearance. Use a piece of old bed-sheet to wipe the
figures clean of excess carbon black, leave the puddles of carbon black in the
background untouched (don’t use a towel, terry cloth may be too adsorbent). You
will find that this makes the detailing of the casts figures stand out. I found that
several hour presoak mentioned before prevents the carbon black from being
absorbed too much, otherwise the figures in the cast will be too dark or even have
the look of being painted sooty black. There should still be puddles of darkened
water in the background. Place the wet relief in the sun to dry. This should take
roughly a day, much less if it is a hot day. The dry plaster cast with carbon black
smeared over it then is dry brushed to remove the excess carbon black. Dry
brushing is what the name implies. Dust off the excess carbon black with a stiff
brush on the cast relief’s background, figures and borders until it looks good to
you. Once you are satisfied with the carbon black antiquing, I usually apply to the
cast a spray plastic to fix the remaining carbon black so it won’t flake off. I found
an inexpensive and readily available source for this plastic spray is women’s
hairspray (polyester should be listed in the contents of the air spray). A product
available in the US called “Aqua Net” works well.
15. Write an information sheet about the relief. Most costumers are interested in
interpreting the hieroglyphs and the overall meaning of the relief. I have included
one of my sheets for lintel 25 as an example.