nostrils will have fallen some little distance
underneath the under jaw. See, now, that the lips, both upper and
lower, as well as the inner angles of the mouth, are skinned inside to
the extreme edge at every point, or all your labour will be thrown
away. This operation is one of the most nice and difficult in the
whole range of skinning operations, and is equally difficult to
describe. Cut out the cartilage of the nose, slip out the tongue, and
generally trim the head in the usual manner, and well rub in the
preservative. If you should find too much of the inner angle left far
up in the mouth it may be cut off.

If the head were returned now it would be seen that the lower edges of
the inside skin of the mouth were the only points of attachment, and
even there only to the edge of the teeth all around them.

The skull bone being now only attached to the subject, literally by
the "skin of its teeth," you have the whole bone exposed to work on.

Fill up the orbits and hollow bone of the nose with any loose pieces
of peat, to give solidity to the next operation, which is, to cut
pieces of peat in an artistic manner to represent the flesh of the
cheeks, the chin, the top of the head, and the cartilage of the nose.
When the whole of these pieces are shaped to their required
measurements, attach them by string or wire to their neighbouring
bones in the manner which occurs to you as being the best. Having well
secured them, go over the whole with plaster of Paris, mixed with
water to the consistence of a stiff paste, merely smoothing it as it
sets, up to the required shape with a broad knife. The plaster will
soon set, and may be further rasped or trimmed into shape. Plaster
alone may be used, but my reason for making a substratum of peat is,
that if the former only is used it renders the head unpleasantly
heavy.

The great advantage which this system has over the former is that, by
the unyielding nature of the medium, nothing can possibly shrink or
shift, and though this plan is, perhaps, more tedious, and certainly
requires more skill in its execution, yet it is, as a matter of
course, far preferable than trusting to tow alone for the formation of
the head.

Finally, place some putty or clay in the ears, nose, and around the
skin of the lips, and pull the mask over the model.

Pad the body, and put in the central body wire as before, also the leg
wires, but in this system you add another, but thinner, wire to come
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