Chalk to Plaster (Final Piece Idea)

My final piece is based upon bone and how I recreate this look using plaster. After investigating the different ways bones are affected such as by disease or fracture, I chose to create a piece that shows these varying effects. I have looked into osteoporosis, cancer, fractures, brittle bone disease, osteoporosis and many more, which each attack the bone different causing various aesthetics. I have originally thought of making 10 different bones but this may be ambitious with time. One rod of plaster represents a bone. The disease coverage on the plaster rods depends on how it effects the bone, for example, osteoporosis effects most of the bone and bones in the body, so will cover a large surface of the rod.

To experiment with the composition and look of my final piece based upon my drawings, I used a pack of chalks. Although this seems unusual, it has the same aesthetics as the plaster rods and I can experiment with their order and how many rods work.

Pack of Chalk

10 pieces of chalk

Each one of these chalks will be a different disease, the first one being clear to show a 'normal' bone.

Brittle Bone Disease look 

I broke the chalk to see how it cracked and shattered for diseases like brittle bone disease and fractures.

Different disease ideas

Overall, this was a useful process as I could experiment with composition, and have a more realistic view of my final piece without actually having to make many plaster rods. Moreover, it also allowed me to see how I could make the real plaster rods and the percentage of disease to each bone. For example, the fractured bone could be in thirds as it is pleasant to the eye. I can also pick out some diseases that look better than others if I need to cut down the numbers of rods due to time.