Week 2 Orca Articulation

Week 2 of the orca articulation is rapidly coming to an end and things are really beginning to come together (literally).

Can you see the bubbles floating around?  Silicone and bubble soap are used to fill in between each vertebrae; the silicone serves as the filler while the slippery bubble soap allows our nimble-fingered volunteers to mold the sticky silicone into the specific shape we want. Don't worry, the skeleton won't be emitting bubbles for perpetuity;  Libby, Chrissy and I just couldn't resist a little after-work fun... 

Eliza and Chloe Dawson took on the important task of "mapping the curve" for the position of the skeleton:

The pipe was then bent to match the created curve and vertebrae were drilled and assembled onto the pipe:

Work on the flippers and skull is continuing to move forward with great progress.  Finished products will be highlighted in later blog posts.

Linda Dacon and Deanna Pindell in the workshop



Glenn Waldenberg and Darryl Hrenko have been working on the tail portion of the skeleton.  See and hear about Glenn's experience in his video interview below.



Can't wait to see what we will  be working on next!

Heather Jones
Orca Project Coordinator

Week 1 Orca Articulation

The first week of the Orca Articulation Project is already coming to an end and we are making great progress! This week has been an exciting and busy time as volunteers finish final cleaning on the bones and start putting the pieces of this whale together. You can learn the story of our orca, named Hope, on our Orca Project web page.

A few highlights from this week's work:

Volunteers Sue and Karen describe the process (so far) of assembling an orca flipper:



One of the most inspiring parts about working on the Orca Project is how it has attracted the support and attention of so many members of our community.  A local glass artist created these "Hope Beads" to sell and is donating all the proceeds to the Orca Project!  These one of a kind creations will be available at our open Skeleton Articulation Open Houses  on Fri-Sun, 1-4pm, February 4,5,6 and 11, 12, 13.

We hope to see you in February. What part of the whale do you think we will be working on by then?