Decorative elements in strip form used to embellish a surface are called moldings. Our moldings are usually repeating patterns, and range in lengths from 1 – 4 feet. They are grouped either by functionality of similar motifs.
Stylized leaves of the Acanthus plant are integral to Classical architecture, adorning capitals, friezes, moldings, and more. We’ve collected so many they get their own category! Included in this section are “lambs-tongue” styles.
Often referred to as “cornice moldings”, plaster crown moldings are used to adorn the top perimeter of a room, extending down at an angle from the ceiling to the wall.
This is an eclectic group of patterns which can be used in a variety of ways.
Think teeth. Dentil molding is a series of small, even, rectangular blocks, often used in cornice moldings.
It’s everywhere! Little symbols of life and death form probably the most common of all molding motifs, and the variety is endless.
Also known as “panel” moldings, these are used on ceilings and walls to form a border, and many of ours have matching corner systems.
Instead of pounding a nail into plaster to hang a picture, many architectural periods, especially Victorian, developed a molding with a curved top which runs high along the wall, a foot or two below the ceiling, from which pictures can be hung with a special curved hook. These were made of wood and embossed with composition ornamentation. Our moldings are reproductions of these wooden moldings, and because they are plaster, are intended to be decorative only.
Surface moldings run on a flat surface, and have the same projection at the top as at the bottom, even though the pattern may have a specific orientation. Many of these patterns can be used as a frieze, which is a horizontal band of a classical entablature, running below the cornice.
These moldings function primarily as twisted pilaster shafts from Spanish Renaissance or Mediterranean styles, but can be used as surface moldings as well.
A water table molding has a downward sloping angle at the top, to shed water in positions of great exposure to rain on a façade.
