A skull for a 19th century doctor (1:12 scale).

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing well!

In the past few days I've been busy working on an odd miniature; a 1:12 scale 'old skull', which will be added to a project that my dear friend and fellow miniaturist Rebecca Micallef is currently working on.

You see, Rebecca creates stunning room boxes and miniatures for Life & Style, a Maltese TV show where she stars bi-weekly. So, when she told me that she would start working on a Victorian doctor's practice, I immediately thought of 'contributing' in a small way with a 'doctor related' miniature. Hence the idea to produce a human skull, so she could put it on a shelve or something.

This image: the skull resting on my hand palm for size reference.

Honestly, that was easier said than done. Skulls are not easy at all to make, specially if you want them to look a bit convincing. The last thing I wanted was to produce a cartoon-like skull or something of the sort.

So I did a bit of research first; in this case a basic study of the anatomy of the human skull, and started modelling later.

Not that my aim was to produce an anatomically perfect skull, but at least it had to be one that would look convincing at first glance. Remember that I consider myself an impressionist, not a realist! The material used was Fimo, a polymer clay type that I'm not very comfortable working with, but what the heck, I gave it a try anyway.

I'm sure this specimen would raise eyebrows with a real osteologist, but hey, what are the odds that one is watching?

In any case, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out! The thing looks old, and weathered, as if it was dug up from a collapsed, ancient tomb (images of the famous Hammer studios horror films of the 60s and 70s immediately pop up in my mind).

Using a bit of imagination, it could also be that the skull belonged to someone with a pathological condition of sorts, an unfortunate individual who in the 19th century would commonly -and cruelly- be referred to as a 'freak'. 

Whatever the case may be, the skull turned out better than I expected, so I presented it to Rebecca with a certain sense of pride. 

Then I placed it behind the glass of an old, wooden cabinet which, interestingly, I got from her some time ago, and took some pictures of it, like the one below.

Today, still playing with the old skull, I placed it on another piece of dolls house furniture; this time a vintage dresser. I think it looks pretty cool here too!

The below images show an anatomy note book which I made to go with the skull. Perhaps it originates from the time when our doctor was a medical student, and he made notes in it while attending lectures at the university.

   

Finally, I couldn't resist doing a bit of 'photo magic' with it, to give it more 'personality' I should say. The below two images are testament to that! People, meet Sheldon..!

It won't be long before the skull and I part ways, as he embarks on a journey to his 'final resting place' in Malta! It was fun hanging around with you, Sheldon! Please don't become a stranger.

That's all for now, folks! As always, thanks for visiting, and please check out this blog from time to time for news and updates. Have a great one!

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