304 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



Any admixture of spermaceti ruins the wax, and white 

 Japan wax is of no avail. 



In the work just referred to, the following formula is 

 given : — 



99. — Modelling-wax 



Pure white wax . . . i lb. 



Tallow . . . . . 2 oz. 



Canada balsam . . . . 3 oz. 



Melt and thoroughly mix. 



This appears, however, to have far too great a quantity of 

 Canada balsam, and the tallow should probably be omitted. 



Colour with tube oil-colours to whatever hue is desired, and 

 pour into the small baking-tins mentioned at p. 244 ; let it 

 remain until cold, when it can be taken out as a block and cut 

 into sheets with the machine. 



If in a great hurry to get a small sheet, pour some thinly, 

 or brush it, over a piece of damped glass, from which it will 

 peel off. 



Pigments for Modelled Flowers, etc. 



These should be of the very best quality, as, although dear 

 at first, they are cheapest in the long-run, for what can be more 

 vexing than to see the once brilliant model, vying actually 

 with nature, now a miserable failure, the crimsons a dirty 

 brown, the pinks a faded drab, the yellows greenish or blackened, 

 the lilacs a bluish-grey, the blues whitish-grey, the greens black, 

 and some other tints vanishing altogether, which inevitably 

 happens with ordinary colours? Hence it is of the utmost 

 importance that the palette be of permanent colours, and by 

 permanent colours are meant those which are absolutely un- 

 affected by ordinary light, by foul air and gases, or by admixture 

 one with the other. 



The present writer has derived so much knowledge of the 



