3o8 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



from the apex of the lobe for which it is intended to the point 

 of junction, and the wire cleared from that point by cutting 

 and drawing off the superfluous wax with the finger-nails, 

 they are then joined together by pressure, or by the merest 

 shred of art fabric wound once or twice around at the junction. 



If, when joining these ribs, it should be found that the 

 combined wires or bristles would make the leaf-stem too thick, 

 one or more of them may be cut away. 



For the ribs of very small leaves, the silk-covered wire 

 needs only to be rubbed with wax to give it a sufficient 

 coating. 



Making Moulds from Natural Leaves, and their Reproduction 



Let the student provide himself with some best (S.F.) 

 plaster of Paris, a basin, and some water, and, having put on 

 the modelling-dress (see p. 295), retire to the casting-shop or 

 bench and proceed thus : — Let the leaves to be copied be of 

 the easiest character, say hawthorn or willow for the first 

 lesson, and commence by placing them in a basin of water for 

 a few minutes to clean and toughen them ; then brush with a 

 soft camel-hair brush to take off dust and superfluous water. 

 Begin at the top of the spray to be reproduced, and pick off 

 three or four leaves, marking them i, 2, and so on. Then 

 mix plaster and water with a spoon to the consistence of thick 

 cream, hold the leaf with the left hand over the basin, and 

 pour on just sufficient to cover the leaf thinly, taking care not 

 to weiight the leaf with so much plaster as to take out the 

 natural curves, or, worse still, to flatten the leaf; lay the leaf 

 upon a piece of cardboard or stout paper previously moistened, 

 and treat another in like manner, and, by the time three or four 

 leaves (not more) are first coated, the first one will be ready to 

 receive a second coat, and with deeply-cut, cleft, or twisted 

 leaves, the one half — that lying down — will be the one to re- 



