!38 



METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



lard oil, or clay water, so that the plaster will not stick to the pear. 

 Now pat the sand down all around the pear and make it flat and 

 smooth. 



Whittle a small plug of soft wood sufficiently rounded at one end 

 so that it will " draw " out of the plaster. Place this plug in the sand 

 as we have it in A, Fig. 1. When the plaster is poured over the pear 

 to the edge of the sand this plug will form a counter-sunk hole in the 

 rim of the one-half of the mould as shown in Fig. 4, A. The exposed 

 end of the plug should be oiled as well as the pear, in order to keep 

 the plaster from adhering. 



Mix up some water and plaster of Paris considerably thicker than 

 cream and cover the exposed portion of the pear as shown in Fig. 2. 

 While the plaster is hardening you can trim it off and shape the 

 exterior. When it has become hard, lift the pear out of the sand with 

 the plaster around it. Trim the edges of the plaster smooth and flat 

 around the pear and, with a camel hair brush, paint the edges with 

 shellac dissolved in alcohol. In order to give this sufficient body, it 

 should contain one part of shellac and four parts of alcohol. 



When the shellac is dry, coat the edges of the plaster with 

 oil, or clay water and also the surface of the pear. Now imbed the pear 

 with the one-half covering of plaster in the sand sidewise as we have 

 it in Fig. 3. Be sure to have the counter-sunk hole which the wooden 

 plug has made buried in the sand. 



Place three wooden plugs around the pear in the sand, one at each 

 side and one at the end, as shown in A, B, C, Fig. 3, These should 

 be oiled the same as the surface of the pear and edges of the surround- 

 ing plaster. When this quarter of the pear has been covered with 

 plaster it will have about the same appearance as is represented in 

 Fig. 2, and the wooden plugs will make the counter-sunk holes as seen 

 in B, Fig. 4. It may be preferable to some to make these counter- 

 sunk holes with a knife blade as each section of the mould is made. 



When the plaster has become sufficiently hard you may lift the 

 pear with the plaster around it and you will have covered three quarters 

 of it. The section just covered is B, Fig. 4, showing the counter- 

 sunk holes which the wooden plugs have made. Without taking 

 this section off, proceed to cover the last portion with plaster, first 

 giving the fresh edge of section B a painting of shellac and alcohol 

 and then anoint the pear and edges of the plaster all around with 

 oil. When you have covered this with the plaster and it has " set " 

 sufficiently hard, by tapping on it gently and, with a little trimming 

 and cutting the three sections will come apart and the pear can be 



