TRANSFERRING WINGS 197 



spells economy, and as the due observance of 

 economy is one of the virtues, it will perhaps 

 be a useful thing to describe how it may be 

 effected. 



Hold the damaged pattern upside down 

 between the left forefinger and thumb at the 

 root of the wings, and with the point of a 

 sharp knife slit the varnished head underneath 

 right down to the twisted gut of the gut loop. 

 If the dressing silk forming the head has been 

 properly waxed and varnished in the first 

 instance, the whole head with the entire wings 

 in situ can be removed, and transferred to the 

 fresh hook prepared to receive them, in much 

 the same way as a saddle is placed on a horse's 

 back. Having taken two or three tight turns 

 of the dressing silk up to the roots of the 

 wings and immediately to the left of the re- 

 mains of the old varnished head, the latter is 

 now removed by carefully levering it off witli 

 the right thumb-nail, care being taken to 

 remove every piece of the old dressing silk. 

 The ends so exposed of the component parts 

 of the wings are then adjusted to their proper 

 position, and covered over with the dressing 

 silk, which is subsequently finished off in the 



