Tag: skulls

3DKitBash: Your Source for 3-D Skull Models

Post author By Doktor Leech
Post date July 28, 2014

You felt like a Mad Scientist, didn’t you, the day you got that 3-D printer, whether it was a MakerBot, a Cube or a home-brewed RepRap… but, admit it, the let-down set in as soon as you tried printing your own skulls. Brain bones are wickedly cool but also notoriously complex items to model. The devious geniuses at 3DKitBash have you covered with their high quality digital 3-D models, shown here printed in an oddly appropriate hunter’s orange.

Their “BoneHeads” collection features models of various skulls, including dragon, sabre-tooth and alligator, all rendered with lovingly organic-feeling texture. At least of couple of the models even have working jaws and I noticed one of the collections came with a femur model, handy for printing an actual skull and crossed bones. But any rec-room Dr. Frankenstein knows the demented potential for mix and match given 3-D files. 3DKitBash is already ahead of you. A human skull with the ram horns makes a quite effective demon skull but frankly, my favorite bit of kitbashing was their jackalope skull. Alas, I didn’t get a good photo of it but it’s prominently displayed on their website. Be sure to download the wall trophy base, when you buy a collection so you can display your skull… that is, unless you’re planning to insert it into the head of your next nightmare creature. Be sure to check out the “Free and Cheap” section to grab the “Monster Parts” collection.

Elsa and I had a pleasant chat with Quincy Robinson and Natalie Mathis of 3DK at the Maker Faire Detroit this past weekend. Quincy was a professional toy designer before launching 3DK a little over a year ago with a remarkable 3D printable fashion doll named Quin. They’ve run a couple successful Kickstarter campaigns including one for a rather ingenious kit to test the calibration of your 3D printer. It’s exciting to find creative folks making cool stuff in the Midwest– 3DKitbash is based in Cinncinnati! And popular stuff too: their “3DK Launcher” toy, a free download from their site, has had over 22,000 downloads.

I get it, seriously I do. You’re an Evil Genius, so I know you *could* learn CAD software, wrangle your own scans, burn through a million test prints and come up with your own 3-D skull models. But wouldn’t you rather just print some first-rate skulls and get on with your other plans for World Domination? If so, 3DKitbash is your Igor.

Tags bones, models, skulls

Christmas Food Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers Halloween Party

Horrific Snacks: Skull Cakes

Post author By Doktor Leech
Post date December 14, 2013

Tonight, the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers gather for an evening of crappy holiday-themed horror movies. We mock, chat… and snack. Last year, I brought a cheese ball shaped (more or less) like HellRaiser’s Pinhead and Elsa brought a pan of severed fingers that tasted oddly like pigs in a blanket. For this year’s party, Elsa and I whipped up a couple skull cakes. Skull Cakes? I grabbed the last two skull pans at Williams-Sonoma in the Hallowe’en sales. I put them both to good use and made two different kinds of skull: a Bone-White Sugar Skull and a Banana Nut Head.

Sugar Skull White Cake:
I should level with y’all: I hate white cake. It’s about the most boring dessert around IMHO, but when I thought skull cake, I thought bone-white so I opted for the palest pre-packaged white cake mix at the mega-mart. Honestly though, I didn’t think this through. It’s only the center of a white cake that is actually white; the outside is golden brown. To liven it up a bit, I decided to douse it with a bit of “holiday cheer” and decorate it like a Day of the Dead sugar skull. Still, it was just a white cake…

The Box Recipe called for three egg whites, 1/3 cup of cooking oil and 1 & 1/4 cups of water. (Note to self: next time experiment substituting white rum instead of the water.) The skull pan can produce a full skull but each half requires a box of mix. I didn’t really want to end up with that much white cake so I decided to make only the face. The next time, I wonder if some kind of jelly center could be baked into the skull for a gory surprise when serving.

Sugar Skull baking along side the Banana Nut Head... two heads are YUMMIER than one — Sugar Skull baking along side the Banana Nut Head… two heads are YUMMIER than one

Banana Nut Head
The Banana Nut Head used a recipe that Elsa’s family literally brought back from Bermuda more than three decades ago, possibly one crafted by a real witch-doctor… though more probably just one inscribed on a souvenir cutting board. Whatever its mysterious origins, Bermuda Banana Bread is a solid and easy recipe, one that’s made good use of our too-ripe bananas for years.

The ingredients are added in this order: 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, three eggs, three or more bananas crushed, a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a little water, 2 cups of flour, and 1/4 cup of chopped nuts. Next mix until combined, and then bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

The secret ingredient for “party” banana bread (as opposed to what we usually eat) was a 1/4 cup of brandy poured over the cooled head as it sat in a deep dish. Don’t let its comparatively plain appearance fool you; of the pair, this head smelled the most delicious.

Watch for more posts on future cranial culinary exploits. I don’t see the Skull Cake phenomena ever getting old!