Skeleton mould: part 1

Being the kind of person I am, I'm fascinated by skeletons.  As I said before, I already have a skull mould, so the logical next step is to make a mould that does the rest of the skeleton.

The first thing I have to do is make a skeleton, since the skull I used previously is a bead and didn't come with the rest of the skeleton.  This is the part I don't enjoy.  If I wanted to be making fiddly wee skeletons I wouldn't be making a mould in the first place.

Sigh.  So much more to go.

If you're making one of your own (and if you are, I'd love to see it), you may prefer to use a plastic skeleton.  I'm going to be here all day, and if you make one from scratch so will you.

Next it's just a matter of pressing the skeleton into polymer clay.  You can see how I've flattened it out, and put the shoulder blades off to the sides.   I'll make the limbs separately too and join up all the bits later.  This mould won’t make a perfect skeleton - it’s not designed to.  Instead, it will make a blank that can be further customised so I get a slightly different skeleton each time I use it.




So, let’s road test that mould!

All I have to do is press glued paper pulp into it, wait until it dries, bend the ribs and pelvis into shape, and add a wire to shape the spine.  A bit of paper pup makes a good sternum and hides the joins in the ribs.  In the next installment, I’ll show you how I make the long bones, and the extremities.  To be honest with you I’m not yet 100% sure how I’ll do the extremities. All I know for sure is they will be far too detailed and a lot of foul language will probably be used.

There it is: a moulded skeleton

Comments