I Spine with my Little Eye

                                 

  After examining the spine through pencil and pen drawings, I wanted to begin to look at it in a 3D manner. I felt that this would help me clearly understand its movement and how it works.

I visited the butcher's in my home town and was kindly given a beautiful cutting of a cow's spine. when I got this the bones still had meat and sinew and cartilage attached to them. . .yuck!!!. . .so I began to clean them by firstly boiling the bones, to remove the meat. I then had to scrub the rest of the fat and tissue off of them with a toothbrush. . .a used one of course!!. . .The bones were then placed into a tray covered in salt in the oven to preserve them. They were now  ready to use!  

After doing some colour studies in water colour, I decided the best way to begin my 3d exploration of these vertabrae was to do some casting. With help, I made some silicone moulds and then cast the bones in both plaster and wax.

I really enjoyed the casting and plan to do some more of it, in order to build up a collection of wax vertabrae. I think that I will be able to make a type of sculpture with these! Dyes can be added to the wax to colour them. with the next set that I make I would like to take colour inspiration from the blues and yellows that can be seen in the bones.