Explore "Figure Piping" by M.C.A. F. Russell on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Having made the principles of figure piping as plain as I can to the reader, I think it is time that I take him by the hand, so to speak, and proceeded with something practical. It is to be assumed that he already knows the simple method of mixing his glacé Royal, and the making of his paper cornets, for, if he is an absolute beginner in piping, I would not advise him to commence on figures; but make himself, under tuition, a fairly skilled hand in the regulation work, as he will then be thorough master of the cornet, and be able to put on his fine strokes and heavy strokes, according to his will.
I think the easiest things to pipe in the figure line are birds, so we will take a couple for a start, and begin as I began many years ago, by doing plenty of outlines. I have already noted the great difference in birds, not only in size and shape, but in characteristic attitudes as well, and our first subject may as well be that familiar little harbinger of Christmas time-the robin. I have not the model of our little favourite by me at the present time, but I can see him in my "mind's eye," and commence thus, with a fine line from the paper cornet (Fig. 1). Commence at back of the head; carry the line carefully down over the forehead, along the beak, under the lower mandible, down the breast to the point under the breast-bone, where the thighs commence, which must not be too far back in this instance, or it will upset the natural balance of a bird in this position. Leave off at this point, and take your cornet back to the starting point; now carry your fine line down the back to the root of the tail, and when your judgment will tell you that it is far enough for the body, make the tail with an upward tendency, which will do much to establish the bird's identity. Now recommence at the top of the thigh to meet the line under the tail. Although as yet the bird has no legs, you will plainly see if the body is in proportion, and, if so, you can add the legs-as in the illustration-the eye, and the wing also.