I want to attempt to sculpt my own bobcat form. The question I have is about the skeleton. Do I need to remove the marrow from the bones? I have tried to find info on sculpting beginning with the skeleton but have been unsuccessful. I know it's easier to alter a form, but I want to do this, if for nothing more than the experience. It may be a total disaster but at least it should help with anatomy.
Do you know of any good sculpting books or videos? I ordered some old Breakthrough Magazines that had sculpting listed but it wasn't quite what I was looking for.
Thanks, BP
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Removing marrow from bobcats is not necessary - they aren't that oily (such as dolphins etc).
Look in the archives for information on 'maceration' - a bacterial process used to clean flesh from bones - most commonly skulls.
Clean, disinfect, (whiten if desired) and dry your skeleton.
If you wish you can then mold it and cast it and mount your reproduction skeleton to sculpt over or simply use the real bones and go from there.
Hope that helps =)
There are still some oils and fats present - so degreasing with proper grease cutters / detergents is still suggested and I include that in the 'cleaning stage'. I don't feel that oils are present in high enough concentrations to warrant marrow removal of most skeletons however. Quality solvents should take care of most specimens.
Hope that helps =)
You can get a better start by casting the body. You can even salt the carcass and still cast it.
Good luck
JOhn C