Decorated Shell Casings - Sculpted
Another common method of decoration involved the sculpting of the shell, again using a lead filling to provide resistance. The fluting shown on the second shell in the left hand photo is very common – it looks nice, but also restricts the more detailed work to a much shorter section of shell, making the shell decoration faster and cheaper! On the left, however, is sculpting taken to the extreme – taking a 75mm cylinder and working the brass inwards to create a 20mm waist near the base and outward to over 100mm wide.
The clock garniture is also an impressive display of scuplted work, this piece is signed C Peeters and features in the Trench Artists section.