366 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



with delicate green wax, and proceed to make the pistil and 

 stamens by folding together about three thicknesses of pale 

 cream sheet-wax ; cut seven short narrow strips or threads, 

 and, having fixed one for the pistil, place the others around it, 

 and tip them with a little yellow and white powder-colour. 

 Prick a small hole in the dome of the bell, slip the wire 

 through, fix carefully, and make the stem or pedicel by cover- 

 ing thinly with wax of the palest and most delicate green. 



To make the unopened buds, roll a small folded strip of 

 wax around the end of the wire ; mould into the natural 

 shape with the fingers, mark the divisions by pressing with a 

 pin, and whiten with arrowroot or tint slightly with green, as the 

 case may be. 



The Stem 



The flower-stem or peduncle is made bit by bit from the 

 top in the following manner : Select a bud, and having covered 

 the stem very thinly, as before directed, to where the first bract 

 appears, cut as many of these as may be required, taking a 

 strip, half an inch wide, of the thinnest and palest green fabric, 

 and cutting it thus — 



then, by cutting straight along the base of the cut portion, the 

 points become separated, and, after being placed upon the 

 finger and rolled once with a modelling-pin, are ready for use. 

 Now proceed with the making-up by fixing a small bract to the 

 stem of the top bud, and complete the stem to where the next 

 bud or flower springs from it, but leaving a piece of wire un- 

 covered to which to attach the flower. The stem of the latter, 

 being already prepared, is merely pressed upon the wire at the 



