Capital Construction

CONSTRUCTION, CARVING, AND ASSEMBLY OF THE CORINTHIAN CAPITALS

My Basswood Corinthian capitals are replicas of the stone capitals on the Temple of Lysicrates in Athens, Greece, and were made on commission for a private home in Atlanta, Ga. After completing the project, I was looking through The Styles of Ornament by ALexander Speltz, published in 1905, and to my surprise and pleasure, on page 54, plate # 22, item # 26, I found an illustration that was the exact match for the one the designer sent me.

In addition to the capitals, and carvings on the tops and bottoms of the columns, the commission included a pilaster and three scroll keys. The architectural designer furnished a full size illustration of the capital and building plans for the foyer where the columns would stand. From these, my friend Phil Reynolds, master woodworker and engineer, developed the measurements and the very extensive, construction plans. I could not have done this complex project without Phil's instructions and guidance.

STRUCTURAL DETAILS

The four capitals are 19.5 inches tall. The columns, with the 6" bases and the caps attached, are 9'9" tall. The capitals are not cut from a single big block; they were built in sections that were stacked vertically to form the structural core to which the individual carvings were attached. There were three rings that comprised each core: the barrel, the floral basket, and the lotus ring. Each core section nested into the one below it. The ledge around the top of the acanthus ring in the photo to the right received the tenon on the bottom of the barrel ring. Carvings were made separately, then attached to each ring, with the exception of the lotus ring. The lotus leaves were carved into the face of that ring. Once glue was appliedto the tenons and the rings were stacked, the core locked together as a structural unit.

The photo to the left shows the carved top of a column with the lotus ring sitting inside it and the acanthus ring seated inside of the column. I pinned the drawings to the ring so that I could adjust each for proper spacing, and align them over a center point in each of the column carvings. Once I had the alignment exact, I traced the drawings onto the ring using carbon paper, then carved them into the rings.

The barrel and two rings dry fit to the column.

To make the curved scrolls for the front of the barrels, I steamed 1/4" thick x 7" wide veneer strips in water filled trays on my kitchen stove. When the strips reached the point of wilt, I applied glue between the layers, and clamped them in the forms to set. I needed 32 blanks, 3/4" thick.

CARVING AND ASSEMBLY DETAILS

There are over 500 parts that comprise the four capitals. Many of the carved parts have a left and right profile that I made separately then glued together to make complete leaves and scrolls. For example, the scrolls supporting the corners of the abacus were composed of a left and right profile glued together to form a single scroll. I duplicated my original carvings using a manual duplicating machine with a router and stylus on an arm. Photograph to the left shows the right side of a corner scroll cut to shape and ready to hand carve as an original to use in the duplication process.

The duplicator produced a copy with the same orientation, shape, depth, and lines as the originals but made a very rough surface. After duplication, I re-carved the surfaces of the copies to refine the v-cuts, smooth the surface, and restore details that were lost in the duplication process.