Saturday, June 2, 2012
Mummified Pygmy Warrior Head
Kevin Gerrone brings us this well done tsanta gaff. The headdress is a nice touch. Even the best shrunken heads can have issues reproducing the look of human hair. The contrasting textures and colors of the headdress is a clever way to ameliorate that while adding a great deal of visual interest.
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2 comments:
That’s a fine gaff. The ear lobe detail is pretty nice too. Do keep in mind though, that all bodily openings were sealed, sewn shut, or otherwise blocked. Part of reason is spiritual and part is practical, since the skinned head was shrunk and dried near heat to drive out the water in the tissue. To keep the features from distorting and collapsing, the head was filled with sand early on and, bit by bit, the sand ballast was reduced as the head shrunk from the heat. My understanding that the neck was where the sand was let from as the mouth was sewn shut as well as the eyes. The nostrils and ears sealed with something so as not to let the sand out. A putty of some sort would work. Since the head was supposed to be a spirit trap, physical sealing accompanied the spiritual sealing. Anyway, sealing up openings would be easy on your prop, being pre-shrunk. Decorate with appropriate fetishes and serve.
That's pretty much the nicest shrunken head I've ever seen. It's understated and plausible. Very nice.
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