For ten years Józef Stefa?czyk has been making gypsum casts of various small figurines of animals, angels, wall decorations, photo frames, mirror frames, ceiling light fittings, wall and ceiling mouldings, flower columns – around 100 patterns in total. Casts are made of traditional construction gypsum. Owing to the use of an old method, i.e. mixing cow’s milk and a thinner, they do not contain any visible, external air gaps which spoil the appearance of gypsum and spoil its mechanical properties. Larger elements are reinforced with a jute string, a plaster grid, aluminium or painted metal wire, and occasionally also straw which reduces the weight of the cast element. The artist makes copies of small, vanishing patterns of pre-war elements of tile stoves, cherubs from roadside shrines, as well as pretty, modern decorations from all over the world. For four years Józef Stefa?czyk has been taking part in the Exhibition of Folk Art and Handicraft of the Polish and Czech Borderland in Prudnik. He has also been attending meetings and workshops of the Society of Folk and Artistic Handicraft of the Nysa Land, being one of its founder-members. Contact: Józef Stefa?czyk, Wierzbi?cice 32 48-300 Nysa, mobile: 0 603 832 943.