For the base I prefer a paste of unscented soap, egg white, & glue or gelatin, often peroxide—
never, as do some of my competitors, chewed muslin strips or (loathsome!) bits of animal tissue!
Though receiving but five dollars each night at the lyceum (a dollar at home),

And sleepless once when the needle slipped, he could not
say whether it pierced his hand or was at that moment 
born from it, stitching