"Is this some kind of bust ?"

"Well, it's very impressive, yes, but we need to ask you a few questions".

In memory of the actress Gina Mastrogiacomo, who died in 2001 aged 39 ...  I first saw this film in a cinema in San Diego when visiting a friend who worked in the shipyards.

Anyway, at the end of a business trip to the Netherlands in early February of this year, my wife and I stayed in a hotel on the seafront at Scheveningen for our last night. 

Scheveningen - photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas

On the morning of the Sunday, before we drove to catch the overnight ferry departing from Ijmuiden to Newcastle, we visited a large and popular fleamarket in the centre of The Hague and one of the things we bought was a large plaster bust, for 20 euros.

It's a good size, around 550 mm (22") tall.  I thought it might be a copy of some famous sculpture, but if so then I couldn't find any reference to the original during an internet search after we'd brought it home.   I also researched the subject matter to see if I could identify a particular Greek or Roman goddess, but that also failed due to a lack of iconography - the girl in the bust is simply holding a shawl around her shoulders, and is not carrying anything.

We thought the bust would look good on a plinth as the centrepiece within our new circle in the front garden.

The only problem being, of course, that it's cast in plaster and not resin or concrete, so if it was left outside unprotected it would likely dissolve into a puddle of gypsum slurry after the first heavy rains.

Back in February we'd bought some specialist stone-effect spray paint and clear lacquer to protect it - the paints actually cost more than we'd paid for the bust - but it was too cold and wet for painting at that time.

The paint was to turn it back into its original colour, because it had been hand-painted by a previous owner and they hadn't made a very good job of it.  The lacquer is required so that the bust will shed water without it soaking in to the surface of the plaster and causing damage.

So, during a recent spell of fine weather, it was time to tackle this mini-project.

The plinth is a large and heavy cast iron piece we bought on eBay more than five years ago, and at that time we painted it in an antique gold colour using Triflow metal paint (similar to Hammerite).  The paint has lasted very well, so we decided it didn't need re-doing as yet.

The plinth has been used for the last few years to hold a pot of Lewisia, but it was always intended for something more decorative.

On the plaster bust, I very carefully rubbed over a few areas where the paint coat had run, using fine sandpaper, and then gave it several new coats of the white spray paint, although I didn't fully complete the paint job at this stage.

We first needed to consider exactly how to mount the bust.  The plinth has a large shallow cast dish on the top, but I didn't want to just place the bust in there because the base would have ended up sitting in water if the small drain holes in the dish had become blocked.

So the first thing to do was to seal the open cavity within the hollow bust and simultaneously provide a means to raise the plaster off the very bottom.  I did this by fitting a square aluminium plate using some M8 large-headed screws.  The bottom face of the bust was drilled and tapped to make screw threads, and the cover plate and screws were then fixed in place and sealed using epoxy resin. 

sealing plate, and large screw heads to make mounting feet ...

The screws could only be fastened finger-tight, because plaster isn't a good material at all for making screw threads - it's far too soft - but taking it very carefully I made a decent enough job of fitting a base plate and the screws were also dipped in the epoxy before fitting.

While waiting for the epoxy to cure, I cut a short piece from a length of 30 mm nylon bar, squared up the ends and then drilled two 5 mm holes through it.   When fixed to the baseplate at the centre, this will make a locating spigot for the bust to sit onto its mounting on the plinth ...

nylon spigot and M5 capscrews ...

... which I made by entirely filling the top dish with concrete to provide a level surface where water can't collect.  In the centre, I used a piece of scrap steel pipe as a 'core' to cast a hole in the concrete at the centre of the dish, into which the spigot would locate.  The pipe was carefully removed as the concrete started to cure.

freshly cast concrete in the plinth dish ....

So when it's installed, the bust sits on the four baseplate screw heads which raises the plaster bottom above the level of the concrete, so the plaster is never in contact with any standing water.   The spigot provides the location to stop the bust sliding off or being knocked over.

the plaster lifted clear of the concrete ... 

The bust was given its final coats of paint, which was followed by several coats of clear lacquer.   The lacquer dries to a soft satin finish rather than a high gloss, which would not be appropriate for mimicking the surface of a stone statue.  

I used two full 400ml cans of the spray lacquer, trying to make sure all the folds and crevices were adequately protected.   

The top of the plinth was cleaned up after the concrete had cured for a few days and turned grey.  The mounting spigot was fixed to the bust baseplate and then the bust was lifted onto the plinth.

on the plinth ...

and ready to move into position ...

Within the centrewell formed by the stone circle in the front garden, there's a peony bush which we'd worked around when laying the paving stones.   This particular plant has been moved around the garden several times before, but it's just started to flower so we'll let it bloom and move it again after the flowers are finished.    We'll then place the plinth and bust in its final position.

But even with all the paint and lacquer, I'm not sure how long this plaster casting can survive when exposed to the elements.  Time will tell ...