How to Make a Tyrannosaurus Skull

Find a realistic observation model for your skull. This could be a series of detailed photographs, some high-quality drawings, or even a real museum skull that you can observe closely enough to take detailed photographs of all its sides and angles. The important thing is to have views of every aspect of the skull's shape and structure. You should also decide on how large you want your own skull to be. Build your skull proportionally on whatever scale you choose.

Take a large lump of clay and start molding it into the rough shape of the lower jaw of your T. Rex. You will have an easier time building the complex skull in parts than as a single whole. Bend the clay into the rough U shape of the animal's jaw and then shape the finer details. You want to shape a jaw that is long and very narrow, as was the case with the carnivorous Tyrannosaurus. Don't hesitate to use a putty knife to cut pieces where necessary. If you're unsure about your sculpting ability, simply work slowly and pay careful attention to your drawings or photos. Make sure your lower jaw is thick and solid. Once complete, it must support the weight of the upper skull.

Dig out small indentations in your completed jaw for the animals bottom teeth. Individually shape each tooth out of its own piece of clay and give it a small root with which it can fit into the jaw indentations. If you'd like to reinforce the teeth further still, use metal pins to sink them into the jaw itself. The teeth along the middle of either side of the jaw were the largest, measuring six inches in length, while the front teeth and the very back teeth were only half this size. Make the teeth fit these gradual size changes on a proportional basis.

Build the upper head of the T. Rex next. You should first sculpt its general shape out of a single large piece of clay and then start excavating the large cavities where its eyes, nostrils and cranial space would be. T. Rex had a large cranial ocular cavity, meaning that its skull is mostly thin connective ridges. Make the cranial ridge features extra thick, or leave a clay core inside the upper skull for your model's stability, even though a real skull would not have had core. Excavate and sculpt these before detailing of the head's bone texture. Once your upper head has been sculpted, add teeth to the upper jaw just as you did to the lower one. In this case, you'll have to wedge the teeth in firmly and fuse them to the jaw with some moisture and compression.

Attach the lower jaw to the upper jaw. Cut pieces of coat hanger metal and curve them to make a metal connection between the two parts. Embed these metal ties deeply into both sections of skull. Place a stone or something strong and heatproof between the upper and lower jaw as a buffer which will prevent them from closing together and ruining the teeth while the clay is still soft.

Place your completed skull in a kiln and bake it until it is completely hard and dry. If you notice its color change from grey to a coffee brown, it probably means that the skull is sufficiently baked. Now that your skull is hard, you may remove it from the kiln and place it on display.