50 



METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



work has been properly done the branches can hardly be distinguished 

 from natural ones. It is sometimes best to brush over the trunk and 

 branches thus formed a similar mixture but thinner, resembling paint 

 in consistency. Keep the mixture in the cup warm while \ou are en- 

 gaged modeling. This may be best done by placing the cup in a pan 

 of hot water. Artificial stumps and rocks may be made in a similar 

 manner. The color of the plaster may be varied for other purposes 

 by the use of the dry pigments used in mixing paint as elsewhere ex- 

 plained in this chapter. 



Artificial Rocks. — Rock-work may be constructed by making a 

 framework of wood on a base of dimensions suitable to the size of the 

 specimen to be mounted thereon. Over this tack sheets of paper, duly 

 crumpling it to give the surface a rough, rock-like form. Give it a coat 

 of common glue and allov/ it to dry. Now put on coarse quality of 

 papier-mache here and there and shape your rock to your own taste. 

 The next step is to give the whole surface a coating of glue and 

 sprinkle it until completely covered with crushed granite, sandstone 

 or any other rock you may desire to imitate. Fine pieces of rock- 

 work can be made of pc^at or cork on which sand, mixed with various 

 colors of smalts, with moss and lichens carelessly thrown on here and 

 there for natural effect. It does not require a profound geological 

 knowledge to know when you have made a well-shaped bouloer, but it 

 requires the genius and the " touch" to mould the regular and irreg- 

 ular lines of stratification which go to make up many varieties of the 

 erratic forms of rocks. 



Artificial Rocks, Branches, Etc. — Dr. B. H.Warren's method of 

 making rock-work, stumps, branches, etc., is with paper pulp, plaster 

 of Paris, cement and glue. In this mixture is put lampblack or other 

 dry colors to obtain the various tints of rocks, bark, etc. It is laid on 

 a light frame of wood covered with building paper. 



Snov^ Scenes. — Icebergs and snow scenes miay be made on the 

 same principle described for rock-work. Some taxidermists fill in with 

 excelsior and tack thin cloth over all the surface, producing the irreg- 

 ularities with papier-mache. Wx. Webster in his article, " Practical 

 Taxidermy " in Ornithologist and Oologtst^ for July, 1886, gives us the 

 desired information in a nutshell : " Paint * '^ '•'" and use plaster 

 of Paris, glass frosting and mica snow. Powdered burnt alum can also 

 be used. Icicles can be obtained from any dealer, and grass immersed 

 in strong alum water will, by the alum adhering, have a decided winter- 

 ish appearance. If a scene made by this causes a shiver in July it 

 may be considered a success." 



