Just prior to starting this module I had been trying to make something resembling ribs using the knitting machine, so they were on my mind when I made my first sketches. I found that one image in particular kept coming back to me: a postcard I picked up at the Hunterian Museum showing the spine, pelvis and ribcage of a kyphoscoliosis sufferer.
This image of those bones curling towards each other had been haunting me for a while. I was also thinking about the way the ribs protected the internal organs, particularly the heart. From these fragments came the idea of a helmet - a hat to protect the head - made from a spine, ribcage and pelvis curled around the skull.
The images below show the pelvis in place. This proved to be the most difficult thing to carve; the styrofoam I'm using isn't thick enough for the curves in the pelvis, so I glued several layers together and carved them as one. Unfortunately, the joins are still visible so I need to come up with a solution for that.
I also want to make something to go under the helmet - an arming cap of some kind. It'll be red - it's a good anatomical colour and it'll work well as a background for the bones - but I don't know whether I want to knit something or try printing something.I'd love to know if bone has ever been used as armour. Googling this has shown that a great many fantasy writers/artists/game designers believe that bone armour would be very cool, but I've found little in the way of historical information. I assume that it's actually too fragile.
I have found examples of Indonesian bone armour here and here, and it seems that Native American breastplates like these sometimes use bone (but these may have been status symbols rather than actual armour), but if anybody who can give me more information finds this then please leave a comment.
Very cool!
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