Today's stories are brought to you by returning MSFS alum and new graduate student,
Ruth Grady.
Monday, July 24th, 2017
A great morning can start with a walk down to the plaza to Nicotina and having a cappuccino or a cafe granita with whipped cream and brioche. The walk down is painless but the walk up requires a moment to catch your breath. It was all worth it in the end.
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Dr. Meier talks to students about the skull that they will
use for learning facial reconstruction. |
Class started at 9:30 a.m. with a presentation by Dr. Meier. Today's topic was Facial Reconstruction. This was one of my favorite activities last year as an undergraduate. It is hands on and it brought out the creative side of the students. Facial reconstruction can be both artistic and scientific. An accurate reconstruction is based on the skills of the artist and how well they know the facial anatomy. Basic Principles include how the skin sits on the face, sex, age and tissue markers based on ancestry. Our facial reconstruction is of an 83 year old man who was born in 1921. His front upper teeth are missing and he wore dentures. He was of European ancestry and lived a life of riding horses and doing other activities that wore down the body. He developed osteoporosis and at one point was in a full body cast.
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| Dr. Meier guides students through the process of facial reconstruction. |
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| The original skull |
Students were divided to work on different parts of the facial reconstruction. The first part was to measure and mark where the markers are suppose to go. Next, students put markers on the skull that were measured to show the depth of the soft tissues. The next step was to apply the clay onto the maxilla and mandible using and to apply it around the markers to match the depth. Another student then put in the eyes and added clay to hold them in.
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| Tissue depth markers were first glued to the skull. |
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| Skull with tissue depth markers applied. |
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| Students worked in teams to step through the process of reconstruction. |
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| Eyes were set into the skull and held in place with clay. |
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| Students took care to measure and straighten features. |
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| Clay was slowly added up to the tissue depth markers. |
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| Students helped one another check their progress. |
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| A face slowly began to take shape. |
We stopped to have lunch that included pasta with a tomato based sauce. Bread as always was served and the surprise for lunch was pork and caramelized onions.
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| Pork in caramelized onions. |
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| Spaghetti in tomato sauce. |
We continued on after lunch to add the lips and eyelids and more skin around the skull. In between the students blend their addition together making the fact more realistic by the minute. The nose was added and finally the ears. Again the clay was smoothed and the students even added wrinkle lines.
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| Lips being added to the face. |
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| Shaping the lips. |
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| The eyelids helped to bring life to the project. |
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| Areas around the eyes being shaped. |
We stopped again to walk down to Nicotina to have granita. Some of the students stayed behind to finish the facial reconstruction. This was my third time going down and up the hill and because I don't know enough people to brag about this, I decided to add it to this blog post. Awe, thanks! I feel proud of myself too.
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| Smoothing out the features, placing the nose, and adding more clay as needed. |
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| Ears were shaped and carefully placed on the face. |
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| Finishing touches included adding in wrinkles and laugh lines. |
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| The finished face. |
Dinner was a surprise of pasta stuffed frittata, left over pork and onion, and more bread. Everyone was excited to see the watermelon but when the chocolate dessert came, everyone closed their eyes and savored the delicious treat (or some of us just gobbled it up). It was a wonderful way to end a very hot day.
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| Spaghetti and hot dog stuffed frittata. |
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A dessert "chocolate salami" comprised of rich chocolate and soft cookies studded inside.
(No meat included!) |
