78 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



upon it when being modelled, and should be smooth and not 

 gritty — a condition easily ascertained by pressing it between 

 the finger and thumb. If purchased in the dry state, it should 

 be beaten up and kneaded with just sufficient water (and in some 

 cases with very thin flour paste) to make it rather stiffer than 

 putty, and may be kept damp from day to day by being 

 covered with a wetted cloth. 



The accessory materials are a board, and, usually, a cross 

 of wood of varying size on which to build the clay should the 

 subject to be copied be large, although for smaller things the 

 clay may — if not' used as a solid mass — have for its core some 

 tightly bound tow or paper. The tools are those figured as 

 Nos. 26, 27, and 29 to 39 (Plate II.), a knife, a stiff brush, a 

 pair of calipers and dividers for measuring. 



The object to be copied, being placed in front of the artist, 

 is measured first for its greatest length and width, and a rough 

 mass of clay, of the same length and breadth, is fixed upon the 

 core of wood ; more and finer measurements are taken, and 

 clay is added or subtracted to suit these requirements, the 

 various tools coming into work as matters progress. 



No detailed instructions as to how this or that is to be 

 executed can be given, such work being entirely a matter of 

 correct measurements, fine judgment, and an educated eye and 

 hand acting together — accomplishments which come wholly 

 and solely with experience ; so much so, that a skilful modeller 

 will manage with the most unlikely materials. As a proof of 

 this, there is in the Leicester Museum a grinning and grotesque 

 head, as a large ornament to the model in paper, etc., of a 

 dilapidated belfry-window (see Frontispiece), which was made in 

 a few minutes — eyes and eyelids, bulbous nose, grinning mouth 

 and teeth, all the features in fact — from glued wool ! 



The usefulness of knowing how to model is constantly 

 demonstrated, and many examples are given. Sometimes it 



