Page:Embroidery and Fancy Work.djvu/95

Rh Gelatine moulding is done in the same way as moulding in plaster, the gelatine being dissolved in cold water. If to the water is added a very small proportion of tannic acid (Mr. Leland says a "few hundredths"), the cast will be almost impervious to water. Gelatine is a much cleaner material to handle than plaster, and rather easier to manage. The best is the French, and can be obtained at stores that supply materials for carvers and gilders.

The directions given above are for flat objects, but when a cast from the "round" is to be taken the process becomes more tedious and complicated. An egg is one of the simplest "round" objects to cast, and the process of moulding one of these will illustrate the process to be followed generally.

Have a pan or dish of sand, and place the egg in it so that one half will be above the sand. Pour the slip carefully over this until it is covered to the requisite thickness. Having the mould of one half of the egg, replace the egg in it, oil the edges of the mould, having dug out little holes at intervals to receive corresponding projections on the other half of the mould. Cover the other half of the egg with slip. When this second half is dry oil the inside of both halves, fasten them together by means of the holes and projections spoken of, and through a small hole prepared for the purpose pour in slip, shaking the mould gently until the plaster has hardened.

Some objects have to be cast in moulds of three or more pieces. Sometimes these are separated by means of fine strings passed carefully around the mould, the ends coming through. Sometimes a dull knife is used for this purpose, and sometimes the different parts of the mould are obtained by successive casts, as was done in getting the two parts of the egg.

Fruits can be very successfully imitated by using wax for making the casts from plaster moulds made as