Operation: Bird Skulls

How does one go about with making animal bone replicas?

The inspiration comes from one of my friends.  She wants to do a video series that involves a serial killer, and among some of the props she needs are . . . yes, you're right . . . animal skulls.  Bingo!

Along with the video series, I've always had a fascination for animal bones, so this was a little experiment for myself.  I didn't feel like doing a scavenger hunt for animal bones in the forests near my town, let alone wash and properly clean the bones.

In order to make 'em, you just need:

• 1 cup salt

• 1 cup flour

• 1 cup water 

 Yup!  It's that simple.  It should be a nice and thick consistency, easy enough to model into the shapes that you want.

Here are some photos I captured of the little "production line" I had going on:

Once you're finished, you'll need to pop your doughy creations into the oven for about three hours at 225° F (for best results).  

In the oven we go!

After I took them out of the oven at night, I let them cool for several minutes before letting them sit in my room.  This morning I painted on a few layers of Mod Podge in order to help give the skulls a little bit of protection.  I didn't add any paint because the dough is already a nice "bone color."

Now we have some nice little bird skull replicas!  I might actually use one of these as a (giant) pendant for a necklace of sorts.  In the future I also plan on making other types of animal skulls.

Since I didn't want to make a separate post, I should mention that I'm going to attend Anime Midwest this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I'm not really into anime or manga, however I'm sure I'll have fun learning about Samurai weapons and attending a steampunk concert!  I wanted to squeeze in a post because I've been quiet for awhile.  Hopefully I'll be able to spam you guys with a lot of pictures from Anime Midwest once I return.

--Klaude