PORCELAIN SKULLS

After my contract with the Exhibition department at AMNH ended, I transferred to Vertebrate paleontology, where I was trained as a scientific illustrator and photographer, under the in-house (and multi-talented) artist, Frank Ippolito. 

We worked primarily with Eugene Gaffney who studied the evolution of side-necked turtles, but who also wrote the beloved Golden Guide ‘Dinosaur’ booklet that so many of us grew up with in the early 90’s. I was lucky enough to have several illustrations published during this time, and it was here I began recreating skulls in three-dimension, using porcelain.

The process of making the skulls is meticulous and time consuming: Each skull consists of several molds, and can in total add up to 20+ mold-pieces. Once cast and dry, the pieces are fired to over 2200 degrees before 14k gold luster is applied and then fired once again.