THE CONSTRUCTION OF MANIKINS. 149 



When the manikin has been fully covered with clay from end 

 of nose to tip of tail, not a single inch of surface having been 

 missed, you then have a complete clay statue of the animal, ex- 

 cept the feet. Now put the skin over and adjust it carefully. 

 Leave no air-bubbles under it. Catch it together between 'the 

 fore legs, hind legs, under the belly, the throat and neck, and 

 around the legs, and make it fit everywhere. Then begin at the 

 feet and sew it up with short, strong stitches in the manner 

 already described, shaping and filling out wherever necessary, 

 as you go. On a large mammal it is very desirable for two 

 persons to work at the same time, to keep the skin from drying 

 up prematurely. Of course, the skin must be kept wrapped up 

 in wet cloths until finished. Finish all the legs first, and then 

 the body. You can actually model the skin down upon the 

 body, and it will not only take the exact form of the manikin 

 every depression and every elevation but it will also keep it. 

 If there is too much skin on one side of the animal, work it to- 

 gether with your hand, and coax it to shrink until the superflu- 

 ous skin is distributed over the animal, and finally disappears. 

 Once, when mounting the skin of a Burchell's zebra in a pecul- 

 iar attitude (at bay), I found that, owing to its elasticity, there 

 was a superabundance of about ten inches of skin in front of 

 the left hind leg, which was placed very far forward, under the 

 body. But for the saving grace of a clay-covered manikin I 

 should have been in a fix. As it was, I started in half-way up 

 the neck, to work together and stow away the siirplus skin from 

 that point backward, and by the time I reached the seat of the 

 difficulty (at the flank) the surplus skin was all taken up, and 

 the side of the animal was as smooth and immaculate as if 

 nothing had happened. 



There is supreme pleasure in crowning a well-made manikin 

 with a' handsome skin, and seeing a specimen take on perfect 

 form and permanent beauty as if by magic. If is then that you 

 begin to be proud of your work ; and finally you revel in it. 

 You say to yourself, "This is art!" and so it is, but let 

 your work speak for itself. 



The head is the last thing to be finished, and this feature of 

 the work will be treated in detail in another chapter. 



