Sculpture lesson

Parting line

This is a mold makers term that is the line around any form that divides it in two or more parts. This can best be seen on some French bronze casts. Making molds with rubber has made this a lost art term because it is not required with flexible molds. The ceramics industry still uses plaster molds and a mold maker needs to find the "parting line" The more complicated the form the more mold sections and "parting lines." A simple way to find a parting line is to shave a pencil flat down to the middle core and then draw it around the form holding it in the same angle all the way around the form. A ball would have a line around it that would be like the equator.