152 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



The head should now be laid, throat downwards, on a board 

 sufficiently large to extend beyond the limits of the head at 

 every point, and the next thing to do is to take a mould or 

 " cast " of the head. This is effected by first building a thin 

 wall of putty along the skull, just off, or on one side of, the 

 median line, coming down over the nose and the back of the 

 head to the board. Buttresses of putty (and putty is used 

 because it does not stick to the clay as fresh clay would do) 

 are built on the farther side of the putty wall to strengthen it, 

 and when the head is enclosed within its walls by the retaining 

 boards in the usual manner (see p. 231), plaster is poured in 

 on one side until one half of the head is entirely covered to a 

 thickness of about an inch and a half, and is allowed to set, 

 and, the putty wall being removed, the edges of the half 

 mould are keyed and oiled, and plaster is poured over the 

 remaining half of the head in like manner. 



When the plaster is set, a little care will remove the 

 natural skull from the mould, and this is best done by tapping 

 the mould over all its surface with a mallet, until a chattering 

 is heard, and the joint opens ; then, by more careful tapping 

 and by pulling with the hands, the halves come apart and one 

 half of the mould is free ; the head is now easily removed by 

 tapping and pulling, and there results a complete cast or mould 

 of the head in two halves. 



Sometimes, if at all undercut, or if a neck is to be shown, 

 it may be necessary to make the mould of more than two 

 pieces, and in this case it will be better to make it in four 

 pieces — the first by pouring plaster in on one side to extend 

 up the side of the face as high as the orbits ; the next piece 

 from there to the median line on the top of the head, and 

 repeating the same on the other side, thus making four pieces 

 which will easily relieve. 



To make a model either from the two or four moulds, it is 



