Preserving old plaster keeps decorative art alive

John Doherty was doing rehab work in old Philadelphia apartments 35 years ago, removing old plasterwork to make way for drywall. He was struck by the beauty of the buildings’ antique plaster flourishes – all destined for the landfill.

Instead of throwing the pieces out, he began salvaging them to sell at a flea market on the weekends. Then he learned that he could make rubber molds of the intricate pieces and replicate them as many times as he wanted, for use in his own designs. “It became my own Home Depot,” he said.

Doherty, now based in Delaware County, Pa., started one of the area’s first salvage businesses, with a sideline in plasterwork. “It was the perfect time in Philly, because everything was being blown up and thrown away.”

David Flaharty got into the business in the ’70s, mostly by coincidence. He was a sculptor who rented studio space from a plasterer and began going along on jobs.

Now Flaharty works much as his predecessors did a century ago, carving molds or making them from existing pieces, and then casting them in plaster – though he sometimes substitutes sturdier synthetic materials, such as urethane rubber. He has amassed about 300 molds of decorative elements that can be reconfigured in endless variations, to make large ceiling medallions or small ones, or crown moldings that range from streamlined to baroque.

How evolving technology might influence the future of this craft remains an open question. Some industrious designers have been tinkering with 3-D scanning of damaged historic plaster pieces, which can then be repaired digitally and re-created with 3-D printers.

For now, Flaharty and others will keep doing it the old-fashioned way – and trying to recruit the next generation of artisans to continue their work.

“It’s a dying art,” he said, “but I’d like to pass on my trade.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2014 at 3:12 PM.