What was your first model?
Flexi the FlounderParalichthys dentatus was an anatomically correct, 6 foot long dissectable Summer Flounder Bette Low designed while at the The Lloyd Center for the Environment in 1987 as part of the Traveling Laboratory Outreach Program. ( This is Bette Low with her Halibut model)
How do you start?
Research, research and more research. I read books and look at as many images as I can find. While I am researching, I ask myself: where does it live, what does it eat, how does it catch food , how does it move, and how it reproduce itself. And then, I start to draw…
How do you know what the insides look like?
I read scientific papers, journals and dissection manuals, go to necropsy sessions ( when available) , and talk to biologists and researchers in the field.
How long does it take?
Design of a new model takes from 2-7 months if all goes well. Our most difficult model was an 8 foot long, hard shell-articulated-, dissectable American Lobster Homarus americanus that was over a year and a half in design and production. Each section was made with a fiberglass skin painted wtih epoxy, but -if not absolutely careful while curing- when set, the pieces no loger fit together and had to be done again, and again, and again. The Lobster is a one off!