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in order that it gets wet everywhere, if not, wet it with a
large pinceau dedicated to this. Then, pass through
the end of the mold which closes the circle your bit
of iron wire, which holds the wax gate, and
cleaves the clay closure, as you see, &
it place it low, so that the plant or flower touches no
thing, & can leave enough thickness for the mold, for the
wet sand always raises the plant or flower. Thus, if it is not rigid in
itself, pass with a needle some thin threadpo on the flower to keep it from rising. Or, if you
were to forget, lower the flower with some
bsmall stick until the cast sand begins to
d thicken. Your flower being well arranged,
d choose a bowl big enough to wet in it as
much sand as it needs to fill your mold. Put in a little sal
ammoniac water, then some fountain water. And when
the au en bowl  is nearly full, put in, by
sprinkling, your sand & mix & dilute it well in order that it
all becomes smooth, for if it were to coalesce, it would spoil the
mold. For flowers, it does not want to be so thick, and
especially, at the beginning, you will throw, in goes, the clearest one
on the flower, & when it will be half covered, blow strongly
everywhere, to make the little bubbles disappear. Next, finish filling
& blow always. Make the mold lean a little towards its
widest part, and if you find the remains of thick sand, which has not
diluted well, cast it rather towards the gate than elsewhere. Finally,
you can even cast some thicker wet sand in order to make a quicker set.
I have molded thus a marigold with its leaves. The
crocum ferri is safer for flowers and when there is
crocum, lute with the same sand that was used and
is the most excellent of all.



The alloy, with which I cast a large branch of marigold, which
with its flower, its buds and its leaves came out neatly like its
nature, was of one lb of fine tin, mixed with two
ounces of lead.



If there are some fins, repair with a pen-knife.



Uncover the molded flower by gently undoing the mold with the
point of a knife, & better yet, wet it well in
water. Next, use small bristle brushes of hog,
a bit of iron wire, & When the mold is
reheated the first time, leave it to half cool, then gently pass through
the gate an iron wire, to make an opening for the burned
ashes inside. Next, blow inside with a bellows, then
turn the mold at the gate to make everything come out, &
sometimes suck and draw out with the mouth.



Take heed not to attach too much the tail of the flower to the gate of
wax, for fear of spoiling something when you pull out the gate of
wax. To pull it out, one needs to dig out all around a little,
& then pull it with your little pincers by the tail of
iron.

