of
the skin of those parts. Be sure to hollow out the mouth upward toward
the nostrils, keeping it fine, however, at the lips, and not opening
it outward too much; the same with the nostrils, looking to the dead
head to note the beautiful curves which can be treated so as to
express, at will, rest, alarm, or defiance, according as the
under-cutting is managed; the eyes of the model must be hollowed out
and deeply undercut to receive the hollow glass globes (see Chapter
XII), and the eye pits (lachrymal sinuses) relieved.

Although we have cast the head whilst attached to the body in order to
get our difficulties increased, yet we will now imagine the stag's
head, with a long piece of neck-skin attached, severed from the body,
in the manner in which heads usually arrive from Scotland to be
mounted as trophies of the chase. The model being ready, the dead head
is now skinned, the skin being taken entirely off the head, and being
"double-skinned" as described, washed and cured, is now ready for
mounting.

First, however, the horns must be sawn from the skull by cutting away
a triangular piece of the bone to which they are attached; drill this
bone for two long screws, by means of an American "twist-drill,"
fitted into an ordinary brace. Next, the prepared model requires
blocking; this may be done as shown at Fig. 26. A slot to receive the
board should have been previously cut in the plaster under-jaw of the
model, or, in a more simple and efficient manner (see Fig. 31), by
procuring a piece of "quartering," 3 in. x 2 in, about 2 ft. in
length, cutting a channel in the under-jaw and the back of the head to
fit it, wedging up, and pouring in wet plaster to make all secure. The
head of the model should be cut to receive the horns, leaving about
half-an-inch or more of plaster before coming to the wood.

The quartering protruding below the neck must now be fixed in a vice,
and the horns screwed in. seats, the screws coming through the plaster
and into the wood, which they should "bite" for an inch or so of their
length; wet plaster is then poured on the top, and the back of the
head made up by the addition of more. When dry the quartering should
support the model with horns attached, and all parts should be
immovably rigid.

Nothing remains now but to thin the skin all over the inside in a
careful manner, remembering, the thinner the skin the better the
points of the model will show up. When finished, simply draw the skin