In April, 2025, the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta contacted me to inquire about making a cast in bronze of their Komodo dragon skull currently on display.

After some discussion I agreed to do this, with the provision that I could cast a second copy for myself as my submission to the Alberta Craft Council “Craft Perspectives” call for entry. Craft council members and Alberta residents were invited to create work in response to objects in museums, archive collections, and other historical works in Alberta. Accepted art was to be displayed in the Craft Council public galleries in Edmonton and Calgary in 2025 and 2026.

I had the idea to take the bronze cast dragon skull and use it in conjunction with a bronze dagger piercing the skull. I intended to explore the concept of “Hunting Dinosaurs”.

Unfortunately, the directors of the museum would not allow me to cast a second copy of their Komodo dragon skull. Permission was not granted. I thought this odd, that a publicly funded paleontology institution in Alberta would not support a publicly funded art institution in Alberta.

3D Model of Komodo Dragon Skull

Fortunately, I discovered an academic research institution MorphoSource that on November 1, 2024, released a 3D scanned representation of a Komodo dragon skull. MorphoSource is an online repository of data contributed by museums, researchers, and scholars to share findings, increase impact, and improve access to material critical for scientific discovery and the advancement of human knowledge.

A 3D model of a Komodo dragon skull was produced by the University of Texas from a CT scan of a Texas Natural History Collections specimen. The media represents biological specimen tnhc:herpetology:95803 Varanus komodoensis.

On May 11, 2025, I downloaded the 3D model from MorphoSource as an artist, with the stated use to produce a 3D print of the model to create a mould for casting this skull in bronze.

However, I discovered that the 3D model is not complete for printing. Not all objects are attached.

The model is being corrected. I have engaged a fellow from Germany on Fiver.com who has 3D editing skills to repair the model. He will also split the mesh into four parts and deliver STL files suitable for printing.

The fellow who did this, Denis, was exceptional. The review I left is shown below:

“My project required the remediation of 3D CT scan of a Komodo dragon skull that contained more than 1.2M vertices in preparation for a bronze cast of the model. Denis was exceptional in producing a printable version of the 3D model by repairing scanning faults and attaching disjoint parts. This work required a significant depth of knowledge and experience. I would highly recommend Denis for any 3D modelling work.“

The next phase of this project is to print the 3D model and create moulds for casting.