#myguides

My official articulation starter kit!

I was long overdue for legit articulating supplies and my bobcat helped push me into throwing some well spent money on this hobby. My new articulating supplies include:

Helping Hands (blue tentacle thing) - I’ve been eyeing one of these since realizing that stacking various objects to hold up my baby opossum skeleton was not working. This thing is huge and very adjustable so it will easily hold up small and medium-sized skeletons while positioning bones. It was supposed to come with 6 arms but I guess I got an extra? And a free wire cutter!

Rotary Tool - I spent a long time looking at rotary tools, mini drills, and even battery-powered screwdrivers to find something that was simpler for an occasional articulator. I’ll be doing less than a handful of skeletons per year (if that) so I didn’t need anything fancy but ultimately thought a rotary tool fit the job best and decided on this mini rotary tool. It included a few different size bits (1/32, 1/16, 1/8) that should work great for both small and medium skeletons.

Wire - I picked up a couple rolls of galvanized steel wire that would work with the two smaller drill bits (they didn’t have much for the larger 1/8 bit). The galvanized steel is strong and should provide a great hold but I may get some lighter weight wire for smaller skeletons in the future.

Glue - I’m going with water soluble glue to make fixing mistakes or disassembling the skeletons easier. I have some wood glue and craft glue on hand but also have various superglues on hand if when I get impatient!

Epoxy - I’ve seen the Milliput Superfine brand highly recommended by other articulators for rebuilding cartilage. It comes in two types of clay that are mixed together then sculpted, completely hardening after drying. I love sculpting so I’m excited to use this stuff!

Not pictured: Dust mask or respirator for bone dust! Bone dust is very dangerous so breathing protection is required. My local hardware store was all sold out (thanks to a certain pandemic) so I’m looking online for some options.

Let’s get articulating baby!

A little how-to on shining up this turtle shell! I used tape and plastic wrap to cover the bone areas since I didn’t want the bone to be shiny, then applied several light coats of some matte finishing spray I found at a craft store. I didn’t want the shell super shiny so I went with matte just to brighten. It definitely doesn’t look as shiny as it does in pictures! The larger plastron piece was being glued so it was the last to get shined up.