| ABOUT BONE BUILDING |
| Skeleton articulation, or bone building as I call it, is the process of converting a dead animal into a skeleton and then assembling that skeleton into a, hopefully, anatomically correct posture. The process consists of converting the whole animal to clean bones which can be done using many different methods, ranging from letting the carcass rot above ground to soaking the bones in nasty chemicals. Each method has its advantages, disadvantages, and proponents who will strongly favor one method over another. For school use, some methods work much better than others. After the flesh is removed, the bones often need to be further prepared by degreasing and bleaching. This gives the bones a long term, clean, white look as opposed to being, greasy, and dirty looking as some prepared skeletons look after a bit of time. Then the bones are assembled--or articulated. This process is much like assembling a full-scale model with bones being fastened to other bones by various means including glues, pins, wires and steel rods. Usually the skeletons are solidly fastened together but options can include skeletons that are made to bend at the joints or skeletons that come apart so they can go back into a box after assembly. The methods of cleaning and articulation can vary greatly depending on the size, maturity, and species of the animal, the end result desired, and the purpose of the project. Is this going to be a classroom project good for a grade or a museum quality mount good for 100 years? The difference being how much care gets put into preparing the skeleton and how securely the bones are fastened together. |
| URL: http://www.theboneman.com Boneman Last Update: September 1, 2009 copyright 2005 by Lee Post illustrations by Lee post |
| site created by Merry Web Designs copyright 2005 |
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| The Boneman.com |
| ABOUT BONE BUILDING |
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