PLANTS OF WAX 



FINISHING A WAX LEAF 



The cast as it is taken from the mold must first be trimmed. Scissors 

 are usually employed but the operation is not a simple one if the edge of 

 the leaf be serrate. In this event, the scissors, which have been warmed, 

 are jerked along, alternately cutting ahead and edging to the side. Then 

 with a warm tool imperfections are removed, and finally the leaf is shaped 

 between the fingers. 



The wire which projects from the base of the leaf is wrapped with a 

 strip of mousseline-de-soie (a gauze of the utmost delicacy) dipped in 

 wax. Once more the tool is applied to the stem to obliterate all traces of 

 successive windings and the leaf -is finished save for a final coloring. 



The manner of assembling leaves upon their stems is determined by 

 the habit of the plant, the manner in which the leaves are arranged 

 around the main stem. The leaves of herbs are lashed with thread to a 

 wire of proper size to represent the main shaft of the plant, and the 

 joints are wrapped with gauze, the windings being continued along the 

 shaft. Stiff iron wire should be used for this purpose, and to insure a 

 neat piece of work the end filed to a long taper. Leaves of trees are 

 usually treated in the same way, only the tender twigs being reproduced, 

 for the larger woody twigs need not be fabricated, but in their natural 

 state serve as a base to which the wax tips are attached. 



In fastening leaves to the woody twigs, a hole is bored diagonally 

 through the twig with a fine drill, if you are fortunate enough to 

 have one, or with a triangular glover's needle held in a pin vise or set 

 in a little wooden handle. The leaf wire_is passed through the hole, 

 bent down along the twig, and wrapped with gauze. In the absence of 

 gauze, thin, tough brown paper, cut in narrow strips, will do fairly well. 



When the work of assembling has been done, the final touches of 

 color are applied. A large air-brush which delivers a spray of oil color 

 thinned in turpentine is really a necessity where leaves are to be made in 

 considerable numbers; where only a few are wanted color may be 

 stippled on with a brush- or wad of cotton batting and good results may 

 often be obtained by rubbing in dry color. 



Frequently ten thousand leaves are needed for a single group, but 

 it is rarely necessaryto make more than half a dozen sizes of one kind, so 

 hundreds of leaves may be cast from a single mold. 



Blades of grass are cut from heavily waxed gauze and are modeled 

 by folding them lengthwise over the edge of a knifelike strip of tin fixed 

 in a wooden base. Very little manipulation is required. No rib is used, 



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