Really want to do this at some point

[abcd]

I have been in this library in NYC many  years ago, it is stunning, and massive inside, this is just a small view of one of the map reference rooms:






 

It looks very complicated but actually if all the sum parts of the ceiling are broken down it's easy to see how the various moldings and elements were stacked up  like a wedding cake and used in repeats.
The dark  brown cornice is made up of repeated scrolled corbels, if I made one and molded it, I can cast all of them either in plaster or resin.
The ceiling also has inset panels with leaf designs and shields, some rectangular, some square and some square but one corner rounded, making one of each of those would make all the rest needed if molded and cast.
There's also what's called a gilloche border, a Greek fret molding, at least one egg & dart molding, bead & reel molding, a large  half-round molding bearing fruit and vegetable designs,  and a couple of others that make up the rest. There's also the central oval flat area which has a wide border with a repeated leaf and vines design.

Over the extended height round-top windows and doors there is a quarter dome inset in the ceiling which is also divided into triangular inset panels decorated in green, gold and red with designs.


This is the massive 1911 main branch of the NY Public Library on 5th Avenue and 42nd street, it's constructed from white marble!
I found floor plans that help at least give the size of that room, plus an article mentions the ceiling is 20 feet high, and the room is 34 x 40 feet, I would do a half depth box, so that would be around 35" x 20" and 20" tall

I feel confident I could do the ceiling, I know Lawbre has many  1:12 scale resin  classical moldings and elements too, they may have just a few of the right ones that could work or be bashed and modified to fit, the individual molding elements do not have to be exactly the same as the room anyway, but if I found some that were close or the right size but a little different design, that's fine.

Those repeating moldings  like the Egg & Dart or the Greek Fret are a bear to do by hand, but a 2 or  3" section can be made in clay without  a huge amount of work and time, and a mold can be of that to cast the footage needed. I try to think like a mold maker on many of these elements because that is the easiest most efficient way to make 6 feet of a tiny molding or 100 tiny corbels- make one and cast the rest from a mold- it's all painted anyway, in this case mostly gold, so the material used doesnt matter- plaster, resin, wood.

I may make another room once I finish the first one- before thinking of actually doing this map room for sure, I have to research up some info and pics, and also see what kind of moldings Lawbre and others have that might work, and then I can tell how many unavailable elements I will need to create from scratch with clay, I already know those corbels with the swags between them the right size and design are not likely going to be found, so I am pretty sure I'd have to model that at the very least.