130v - - - - - Molding a crab
It is a secret and a masterpiece to mold a crab well because it is necessary to proceed differently than you would with other animals, because its shell is quite difficult to … and that is why it is necessary to reheat the mold three or four times. And on top of all that, it leaves a hard crust that is gray like ash. It is not molded from one piece and one cast, like plants. Rather, in two casts as with serpents which are easily stripped. After it is opened, nimbly remove this crust with the very fine point of a pen—knife, not with quicksilver which would do nothing and likewise those small crusts of the second cast which get into the cavities that the sand or the molded animal made because it has curved legs. Here is the subtlety and the secret of stripping it. As you molded it the crab from the back side in the way that you did for the others animals, remove the stomach and all the curved legs from it. Make your second cast in the way that you did for the other animals, but as it will have set, take care that you not open the mold unless you have first reheated it well. Otherwise, because of its curved legs, you would break the whole thing. Herein lies the subtlety. If, after it has been well reheated and opened, you see that the crust is not burned enough, reheat it until it is burned enough.
at left top margin
It a crab can be painted like a crayfish.
at left bottom margin
For opening the mold, it is not necessary to soak it because, once reheated, it will open itself by itself.
Stag beetle
Like a crab, it a stag beetle is also difficult to burn, therefore do stag beetles as you did crabs.
For molding thinly
After you have molded the first mold as the core, leave it to dry well before removing the figure from wax, so that the mold is not ruined. Afterwards, then make make a small lasagna of paste as thick as you like, and, once you have greased the cavity of your first hollowed mold with butter, apply the paste to it the cavity of the first concave mold and then the upper part of the second mold. If you grease the mold with oil, it will be soaked up into the mold and it will not be as clean as butter.