Making Artificial Foliage 



Nature requires about six weeks to make a leaf; but 

 a good imitation can be made in a few seconds 



Ground squirrels 

 in their natural 

 haunts. The 

 leaves on the tree 

 were prepared 

 by the method 

 described in this 

 article. They 

 were graduated 

 in size and 

 tinted in na- 

 tural colors 



THE modern educators, 

 lecturers and exhibi- 

 tors insist upon the 

 details accompanying their 

 illustrations being as true 

 to life as the objects upon 

 which attention is to be 

 focused. If a group of 

 specimens from Africa or 

 other parts of the tropics is 

 to be shown, it is considered 

 necessary to have a tropical 

 atmosphere and background. 

 This is not always possible 

 but the attempt is never an 

 absolute failure, since Sci- 

 ence has devised so many 

 ways and means of reproduc- 

 ing natural objects. Especial 

 success has been achieved in 

 representing trees, 

 flowers and shrubs, 

 so that animals, for 

 instance, may be 

 shown emerging 

 from among just 

 such thickets as they 

 would if alive and in 

 their natural haunts. 



Usually when a tree is to be represented, 

 models of the leaves of different sizes are 

 secured and plaster molds made of the 

 upper and under sides. A fine wire, with 

 a little raw cotton wound around it so as 

 to taper to a point, is laid into the impres- 

 sion of the midrib. Then a thin layer of 

 cotton is spread evenly so as to cover the 

 leaf impression, and a little hot melted wax. 



TYPE METAL MOLD 



tinted to nearly the required shade 

 of green, is poured over it. The mold 

 of the other side of the leaf is then 

 pressed down upon it. The wax 

 soaks through the cotton and spreads 

 evenly, making a perfect cast. 



A new method of making these 

 leaves as well as parts of flowers, 

 which will vastly reduce the labor 

 of the operation, has recently been 

 introduced by Mr. A. E. Butler, of 

 the American Museum of Natural 

 History in New York City. He 

 has devised the clamp shown 

 in the illustration. A plaster 

 mold is made from the face 

 of a fresh leaf. This mold 

 is reproduced in bronze 

 and then fitted by means 

 of screws to one side of 

 the clamp. A counter 

 mold is made in type 

 metal on the opposite 

 side of the clamp, thus 

 setting both molds of the 

 leaf in perfect contact 

 position. The cotton and 

 wax are introduced as 

 before. By the closing of 

 the clamp, the two molds 

 are brought together so 

 exactly and quickly that 

 it takes only a few seconds 

 to turn out a leaf. A 

 leaf can thus be made 

 much thinner than with 

 the plaster molds. 

 By using a number 

 of clamps, one leaf 

 may be left to cool 

 as others are being 

 poured. The leaves 

 and flowers are 

 more delicate, 

 also, and conse- 

 quently truer to Nature than when made 

 by the older method. Therefore when 

 they are wired to the forms representing 

 the trees and shrubs the animal itself, 

 whose environment is being considered, 

 might be deceived if it were a real creature 

 and not merely a product of taxidermy. 

 But the most obvious advantage of the 

 method lies in the reduction of labor. 



Above : The clamp in operation. 

 Two leaves are being cast at once. 

 Below the details of the clamp 

 and the leaf molds are shown 



BRONZE MOLD 



