Face Off Mashup: Ashwin and Amy

As a part of our celebration for Skull Appreciation Day we're presenting you with the "Fan Submissions" part of our Face Off exhibit. We asked our readers to submit their own skulls using the template that was provided, then we faced them off against each other, and we now proudly present for your viewing pleasure, the final results.

This Face Off mashup contains two submissions from students at Westfield Middle School, in Bloomingdale, IL. The students did these in their art class taught by Deyana Matt.

This one is by Ashwin Saravanapandian, age 13.

This one is by Amy Xie, age 14.

FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy 

May 31 - August 25, 2013 

International Museum of Surgical Science 

1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

[CONTEST] Win a Metal Skull with Brain Pendant from Anatomical Element

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thanks for participating!

Rachel Stork Stoltz, of Anatomical Element, is a medical illustrator and obsessed with anatomy. She started metalworking as a way to rip herself away from the computer and get her hands dirty. Her very first piece was an anatomical heart and the anatomical skull with brain soon followed (and is one of her favorites!). Rachel made a skull pendant from old roofing copper that she found in her grandfather's barn. She is giving away this skull pendant to one lucky Skull-A-Day fan!

 Close up, so you can see the details.

A perspective view to show the layers of metal

Hanging on a neck, to give you a better idea of size

PRIZE INFO: One anatomical skull with brain pendant from Anatomical Element. The pendant is about 1 3/4 inches wide and 2 1/4 inches tall. It's hand cut and hammered, layered with steel rivets. Bottom layer is copper, skull layer is aluminum, and the brain is copper with a fire scale patina.

HOW TO ENTER: A fancy skull like this deserves to be worn somewhere special. To enter this contest, comment below telling me what special place you would wear this pendant to, if you won it. For example, I'd likely wear it to the International Museum of Surgical Sciences in Chicago, IL, on May 31st, for our Skull Appreciation Day show opening.

CONTACT INFO: The winner, chosen at random, will be contacted via email by one of the Skull-A-Day editors within 7 days of the end of the contest. If that winner doesn't respond, another winner will be chosen. With your comment, please INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!!! Entries are only valid with this information.

WHERE TO ENTER: All entries must be made on this blog post, on Skull-A-Day.com. You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

CONTEST CLOSES: 11:59:59 PM Eastern USA Time Friday, May 17, 2013.

NUMBER OF WINNERS: One

PRIZE SHIPS: This contest is open to all skull lovers around the world.

IF YOU DON'T WIN: Don't fret, her jewelry is available in her Etsy shop, Anatomical Element. Rachel is offering a 10% discount on your entire purchase, if you enter the promo code skulladay13 at checkout. The discount is good from Monday, May 13, 2013 until Saturday, May 25, 2013. You can find out what Rachel is making on her Facebook page.

[CONTEST] Win a Skull Brain from Emilio Garcia

This contest has ended. Thanks to everyone who entered with your comments!

This week's giveaway from Emilio Garcia reminds me of some song lyrics I once heard, "Free your mind and the rest will follow".  By letting the brain take the skull's form he has created the "Skull Brain".  No argument needed for which side is more important, left or right, he shares his entire mind with you in this delightful and anatomically (in)correct work of art.  Never forgetting the true purpose of the skulls we love, to protect the most precious of organs. 

"Emilio Garcia was born in the winter of 1981 near Barcelona, Spain. He has a long career trajectory as freelance art director and visual artist. Since 1999 he has been specializing in motion graphics and multimedia content. His work is published in Taschen Favourite Websites and Web Design Index Books.  Concerned with the digitalization of our society, Emilio saw his culture moving slowly away from the tangible. As reaction to this, he left his multimedia career and embraced the tactile. Drawn to the fascination of plastic, he started a new stage with the Secret Lapo Laboratories, a space for plastic experimentation, where he can give capacity to his artistic restlessness, far away from bits, clicks, databases, and scripts. Out of this desire to make form with his own hands, the Jumping Brain viral was born. " *taken from Emilio's site

Emilio's newest piece is a perfect match for the intelligent group of fans that we have.  The "Skull Brain" takes the gift and makes it the box.  It  replaces the bones with the brains and still maintains the everlasting shape of the casing that we all know.

The entire creation process is documented for viewing on Emilio's Flickr collection.  Be sure to check it out if you want to see how he got from the above to the below.

PRIZE INFO: One (1) Skull Brain measuring 7 x 5.5 x 5 inches resin cast, and comes in the winner's choice of 4 different finishes: PINK: Gloss nitro,  GRAPHITE: Sand textured,  CHROME: Nickel plated, or 24K: Gold plated. 

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment below voting for the side of the brain that you feel is more important- Left or Right.  No explanation or argument is required, just a simple left or right will get you entered.  I'm gonna go metaphysical and vote for the inner brain that contains the 3rd all seeing eye, but only I get that vote.  Oh, and Jessica, too.

CONTACT INFO: If you win, we need to contact you. With your comment, please include your email, or make sure your Blogger profile has a working email link for you on it. Entries are only valid with this information.

WHERE TO ENTER: All entries must be made on this blog post, on Skull-A-Day.com. You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

CONTEST CLOSES: 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time Wednesday, December 19th.

NUMBER OF WINNERS: One

PRIZE SHIPS: This contest is open to all skull lovers around the world. The minds of the masses must be appeased.

IF YOU DON'T WIN: You can always put your own brain to good use by visiting Emilio's Fine Art Shop.  You can find the Skull Brain and Jumping Brain there with a variety of options.  Thanks again for the chance to free our minds, Emilio!

[BONUS] Pumpkin Anatomy II: Update 3

Jon Lang did an excellent job following my directions to make his own jack-o-lantern with a brain!...

Plus thanks to Laughing Squid and Design You Trust for the shout outs about my original Pumpkin Anatomy II...

Here's the current state of mine, which is definitely looking grumpier thanks to the 80+ degree weather we've had this week!

Want to make your own? The directions are HERE.

[BONUS] 404. Pumpkin Anatomy II: If I Only Had A Brain

A few years ago I discovered that with careful dissection you could discover the secret anatomy of a Jack-O-Lantern. This year I decided to try another experiment and low-and-behold it turns out that if you cut it just right you can reveal the hidden brain of a pumpkin!...

I thought it would be fun to give you a step-by-step guide if you wanted to give this a try yourself...

1. Get two pumpkins, one orange that's larger and one white that's smaller. You'll have to guess how much smaller the 2nd one needs to be, but figure the walls of the larger will probably be 1-2 inches thick. The bonus is you can always carve away more if you need to adjust the fit.

2. Mark off a line about 1/3 of the way down on the larger pumpkin to allow for a large enough opening to insert the 2nd pumpkin. Then draw your design on each pumpkin. The orange one can be a fairly traditional Jack-O-Lantern, I just made mine a skull since it's my thing. For the brain I printed off reference images from the internet so that I could it make it look more realistic. It only needs to cover the 1st 1/3 of pumpkin, since the rest will be hidden. NOTE: use a marking tool that can easily wiped off (china marker works well). I made the mistake of using a metallic sharpie that only came off with the use of nail polish remover!

3. Carve & gut the 1st pumpkin like you normally would. Be sure to keep the top since it makes a nice display element later.

4. For the brain pumpkin carve the lines first, by incising them with V-shaped cuts that only go about 1/4 of an inch deep.

5. Cut off the bottom of the brain pumpkin and gut it from below. Then cut out a shape that will allow the design of your larger pumpkin to be uncovered and allow candle light to come through! You will end up with a sort of helmet shape. Sadly it didn't fit on anyone's head when I made it, but it would be an amazing kid's costume if you've got a willing volunteer! The trickiest part is adjusting this to fit inside the 2nd, so you may have to carve away at both the inside of the orange pumpkin and the outside of the white to get it to sit properly.

Good luck! And of course if you make your own please send us pictures to share!

Skull-A-Day Press: 1-800-Recycling.com

The folks at 1-800-Recycling.com put together a nice article about the Skull of Brains I made last year at the Mütter Museum...

Read the entire piece HERE.

Skull-A-Day Press: Brains Skull in the UK

My Mütter's Skull of Brains was featured in the UK's Telegraph as part of their Week in Pictures!...

Skull-A-Day Press: Brains Skull part III

Even more kind press about my recent Mütter's Skull of Brains!...

 Wired Article

Alltop-Holy Kaw! post

Trend Hunter post

Skull-A-Day Press: Brains Skull part II

More kind press about my recent Mütter's Skull of Brains!...

 

Make post!

Laughing Squid post!

Skull-A-Day Press: Brains Skull

There's been lots of great press about my recent Mütter's Skull of Brains!...

Neatorama Post

 

Flavorpill Video of The Day!

DudeCraft Post!

The Daily What post!

[BONUS] 379. Mütter's Skull of Brains

Last month I made a special trip to visit my friends at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia's Mütter Museum. Anna, the curator, asked if I could make a new skull for an upcoming project of theirs and of course I said yes, and then suggested that I make it in the museum itself. Since most of the items on display are very fragile I figured I'd be working with display jars or other non-historical materials. However, to my delight they had just acquired a collection of hundreds of beautiful real brain slices encased in acrylic (which had been dubbed "Zombie MRE's")! Since they're very sturdy I was allowed to used them as my material and I was set up in a lovely room that holds the card catalog for their library. Over the course of two days I arranged the slices on two large old library tables and climbed a ladder over and over making sure the image looked right from a single vantage point (where I would eventually take my picture). All told I used 375 slices and a bit of fabric for the eye/nose holes...

While I was there we filmed a few video segments as well...







As always I had a wonderful time with the staff of the museum and can't wait to get back there to do something else! While the piece itself was only temporary and dismantled shortly there are still tons of great stuff to see in the museum (including a few of the original Skull-A-Day pieces on display right next to the gift shop). I highly recommend you visit the Mütter Museum you're ever in Philadelphia, you won't be disappointed.

[BONUS] Braaaaiiins!

Last week I took another trip up to the wonderful Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. The first time I was there I was invited to talk about my art, this time I was actually invited there to make some! I spent two days with Anna Dohdy, the curator of the museum, and she gave me access to hundreds of recently acquired brain slices that are sealed in acrylic. While I can't share the image I made yet, I can show you a sneak preview of the wonderful material I was working with (which we kept calling "Zombie MREs"), including one that was a terrific skull simulacra!...

More details about this project soon!