Make a Giant Dinosaur "Skullpture"!

Who doesn’t need a huge dinosaur skull in their dining room, classroom or even bedroom to greet you in the morning? Well, now you can have your very own free / low cost theropod (meat eating) dinosaur skull, by following these instructions. 

I have dug up lots of real dino skulls and bones in my days. I enjoy putting these cool creatures together, and sometimes, it's nice to have a few lightweight, but sturdy dino skull sculptures to take with you to events (in my case, STEM education events). They really attract attention, and can help inspire kids to consider becoming scientists/paleontologists when they grow up. So, I thought it would be nice to make a dino "skull"pture of something resembling a T-Rex -- which is still today, probably the world's most popular dinosaur. It's not very scientifically accurate, but that's OK, since it's a project just for fun! It's a great, educational, activity to do with young people too! (arguably more educational than simply 3D printing pieces and assembling them - but I do that often, and that is also quite fun too). Please check out the attached INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO ABOVE for more background info!

Because this project requires some drying time between steps, expect it to take several days to complete.  I needed an economical and lightweight but relatively strong dinosaur skull for various public dino education events, to put on our display tables, so I decided to do the following project using metal mesh, papier mache and plaster, and save at least a few hundred to a few thousand dollars over a resin or plaster reproduction cast. I did this project for under $20, including everything (and of course I used various 50% off coupons at the major arts & craft stores, to get some parts a bit cheaper, but you can always order online and get pretty low pricing too). But, as noted in the video, most of the stuff I used could be substituted with things just laying around the house. Thanks for checking out my instructable!

For a better, high resolution picture of my final dino skull, check out this piece about some of my dino outreach work in this  Boston Herald article

These are instructions for a generic looking theropod skull that is about 2-3 feet long (certainly big enough that a real one could eat my head). For inspiration about a more specific theropod species, look up T-rex, Nanotyrannus or Deinonychus, as a starting point. Parents and children should work together because some parts, like the wire and mesh, may be sharp or a little tough to manipulate (and there are a few wet steps involved like making papier mache mix and plaster of paris). However, I found pliers or related tools were not necessary with the type of armature wire I used at all, and most likely could be manipulated by some children.

Parts/materials you'll need (for a dinosaur about the size that I've made; feel free to adjust, for your skull's dimensions):

• 2 Activ Wire Mesh” 12×24″ sheets (aluminum mesh for making 3D sculptures – you might be able to use chicken wire, or window screen mesh instead)
• 1 pack Armature Wire 1/16″ diameter model making wire, 16′ (you might be able to use some thick gauge copper wire like electricians might use around the house instead)
• 1 pack Armature Wire 1/32″ diameter model making wire, 16′ (for supports; again you could also use spare wire)
• scissors
• 1 or 2 plaster of paris 4.4 pound hobby packs, or one 8 lb tub (a good brand is DAP; you could also possibly use drywall crack filler / joint compound)
• a big bucket and/or flat plastic try, capable of holding water (say at least a few inches depth)
• baking flour (for papier mache)
• a pile of old newspapers
• a small amount of paper clay (at least around 5 ounces), (not modeling clay containing oils, polymer clays or regular rock-based clays)
• coarse sandpaper (optional, for smoothing down some rough plaster)
• Superglue / Crazy Glue (for the teeth, and ideally, Gorilla glue for extra strength)
• acrylic paints of your choice (and an optional undercoating of brownish latex wall/house paint if you make a really large skull)
• For metal bending/cutting, you'll need pliers and wire cutters, or something similar.

It’s always good to start with at least a rough plan, when you're making a big sculpture like a dino skull. Note that I haven't listed dimensions here -- it's really up to you how big or small you make your dino skull. These are sketches of what I’m hoping to make as far as the base metal armature, in separate layers: 1) basic armature, 2) support wires, to help strengthen the structure, 3) wire mesh to cover up the base of the entire skull, and 4) another layer of wire mesh for detailed/layered features, like nostrils, detail around the eyes, and complex areas like the antorbital fenestra (area between the eyes and nose). Keep in mind, this is just a rough plan, and it won't be followed exactly, but it's good to know how much material you'll be needing, and where it will go!

Take the thick armature wire and make a general outline of the dinosaur skull, and use the thin armature wire to add supports. I used about 16 feet of fairly thick armature wire, which is enough to make several loops, and a general outline resembling the plans above. At this stage, you don’t have to be terribly precise, because there will be some wiggle room to make changes during the meshing and papier mache stages.  In my case, I did not want/need a removable jaw. I preferred to use the lower jaw as sort of a permanent stand to hold up the rest of the skull, so I had to make sure the entire armature was connected to the lower jaw, using multiple loops.

Although for smaller children, you may need to use some bending tools like pliers, I just use my hands, and no tools to shape the armature wire — I find even the thick alloy wire is pretty easily workable. Depending on the type of wire you use, you may or may not need the tools. But if you do, especially with children around, be sure to observe safety protocols!

Cut wire mesh with scissors where needed, and apply over the wire armature, following our plan above. It is important to make a nice thick jaw, and to cover the snout so there are no giant holes that will need to be covered by the papier mache. It's OK to have small holes (say an inch or two) throughout the structure, but anything large will not be able to be supported by the papier mache (meaning, after it's finished, when you go to hold it, you might just put your finger through any weak spots; the mesh will help to keep it strong). Also note that there are some areas of the skull that are a big layered (like around the nose and side of the head. Te snout has a 3D Nike schwa-looking region, just behind the nostrils (the antorbital fenestra mentioned above) which will probably need a couple of layers of mesh to make it look right.  It is good to use multiple pieces of the mesh for that, to layer this structure. Be careful when working with metal mesh and wire, because any cut wire ends can be sharp. To anchor the individual pieces of mesh, just wrap a little bit around the edge of the armature.  Using just 2 sheets of the wire mesh mentioned in the material section (which is probably about one average metal window screen), I was able to create what you see in the pictures for this section of the instructable. The whole process so far to get to this point took a good chunk of a day -- at least several hours.

Before beginning doing anything messy like papier mache, make sure you set down some waterproof sheets and some newspapers, to make sure your work area can be cleaned easily later on. It will definitely get wet and sloppy. Mix some water and flour (roughly 2 cups of water to about a half cup of flour at a time; but the exact ratio really doesn't matter very much), and soak some ripped strips of old newspaper into the mixture. If you find it’s not thick enough to hold together well, add more flour. Then, carefully wrap the paper mache around each and every piece of mesh and wire armature. 1-2 layers should be adequate. Be sure to take a break from time to time and let the paper dry, and turn the skull to the side to coat some of the interior areas (although really nobody can see inside the nostrils or under the skull, so detail is not terribly important here, and more paper and plaster weight makes the skull heavy; use your own discretion depending on your personal taste for detail). See the pics attached to this section to get a sense of the process and final product at this stage. Make sure there are no major bubbles between layers or edges sticking out. If there are, then when they dry, you’ll need to cut off extra paper with scissors (make sure you continuously trim the nostrils and other holes regularly too, because every additional layer might make it look worse, unless it’s clean early on).  You’ll need to wait about a day for the whole skull to dry (more or less); if you decide that you'd like more stability, you can add more layers, and wait another day until it totally dries. Keep in mind that even real museum fossil skulls are usually quite deformed, and have bumpy parts, so don’t be discouraged if things are not perfectly symmetrical or if there are extra bumps in some areas and not others. Don’t forget to leave holes (for nostrils, eyes, etc.) where necessary!

For this section, it may be helpful to view the Youtube video, linked on top, as it shows some live-action film of the actual papier mache process.

Mix plaster of paris, with cold water in a shallow container (a disposable one may be easier) and use a stick or other wooden utensil to mix it together (alternately you can use joint compound / drywall patch instead). Add more plaster until it becomes the consistency of more than gravy but less than toothpaste. Be sure to work fast because plaster dries fast (even the ones with a long cure time). You’ll probably need some disposable wooden sticks to do the mixing, since the plaster tends to get caked onto them, and you need fresh ones every now and then.  Add generous layers of plaster over every single piece of dried papier mache, and fill in all cracks and holes (except for the ones you need, like nostrils, etc.). You may need two layers, in which case, you may need half a day to a full day for the plaster to fully dry before adding more layers. Alternate laying it down on one side and then the other to make sure you coat all the bottom and interior parts (you may not need a thorough/careful coating inside the snout/nostril area or much under the jaw because nobody can really see in there, and you can paint it anyway). Be sure to let it dry thoroughly; if it's humid out, it will take much longer to dry.

At this stage, once it's dry, you can optionally sand down areas that are overly rough, or add a bit more plaster or joint compound. It's important not to make it too smooth, since it should have a sort of rough/rocky texture, but in case there are any holes or majoe

For a video explanation of this step, please see the Youtube video, attached to this instructable on top.

I recommend you heck out lots of examples of dino teeth online (one example provided) or download some 3D files of dinosaur jaws and study them in Blender. Then, take some paper based clay and shape some teeth (which is available in craft stores, or you can make it yourself if you follow some tutorials online; it dries in about a day and is very lightweight when finished). Be sure to count the teeth in your favorite theropod to try to get the number of teeth approximately close. For instance tyrannosaurs and nanotyrranus may have about 11-13 visible teeth on a side. Make sure you have very tiny teeth in the very tip of the front of the jaw, and then very large ones, which become smaller and smaller as you get closer to the middle of the jaw.  Note that most of the time, the noticeable teeth stop around halfway back, in the back/middle of the jaw, but not all the way back into the throat.  After letting them dry for a day, use superglue to attach them to the bottom and top of the jaw. Glue the tooth first and then hold it in place to make sure it sticks. If it’s not perfectly aligned or spaced it’s ok, because real dinosaur skulls are not perfect either. Then, once fully dry, it is best to cover around the roots of the teeth with a small amount of plaster or plaster patching material and anchor them to the jaw (and try to give them the appearance of a small circle around the tooth; check out google pictures of dinosaur jaws and see how the tooth root connects to a jaw). Or, use Gorilla glue around the base of each tooth, and the glue will expand and not only chemically bond the teeth to the jaw, but also mechanically hold them in place. You may need to sand down or cut off some of the excess foaming after, but either way, it makes a really nice effect at the base of the tooth.

When painting your dinosaur skull, it's important to consider how much surface area you'll need to cover. If you've got a really big skull (like ~3 feet, around the size of mine or bigger), then you'll have a big surface area to cover. In that case, you might want to paint the first layer using some sort of brownish latex/acrylic wall paint (in my case, I usually go to Craigslist, and pick up a free one somewhere nearby -- pretty much any cream colored or gray or brownish paint would do for a basecoat. Then, I generally mix some acrylic paints to a darker brownish tone, and paint into the crevices and deep spots throughout the skull. Later, I go back with a whitish, or lighter colored paint, using a drier brush (with less paint), to make the highlights pop, and this will yield a texture that looks somewhat like a rock, or roughly what the surface of fossil bones look like. After trying a few different brush strokes, eventually you'll find one that looks good and can be applied all over the surface of the whole skull. It's also important to paint a sort of gradient on the teeth, to make sure they stand out. Fossils and teeth can be pretty much any color (since pretty much any mineral can be found in fossils), so feel free to be creative. I've shows a few closeups here, so you can get a sense of the texture and final paint job. From far away, or on first glance, it should look realistic enough to fool most small children at festivals/expos/school-events (and believe me, they're always asking - "is this dinosaur real?"). And, when you have lots of kids stop by to touch your sculpture, then you know it has been worth all that effort!

To know more about how I painted this skulll, please see the Youtube video attached to the instructable! Here: https://youtu.be/YIYSIZOy_AM

Thanks for checking out my instructable! This is my second one ever, and I hope to make more as time permits. If you do make one of these things, please be sure to let me know - I'd love to post it on my various sites, with a link back to you!