cane 02

I acquired several replica Jurassic Park canes over the next couple of years and was never completely satisfied with any of them. Many of the replica canes are cast in dense foam and they look good but are not strong enough for anything other than display. I needed something that could stand up to being knocked around in crowds at conventions and, if needed, even support some of my weight. I had a cane turned on a lathe from hard wood so it would be strong enough to be used as both a prop and a cane. Unfortunately, it didn't look enough like the cane in the movie to my eye. The "bone" segments were all the same diameter so there was no taper to the cane, and the fake amber knob with the embedded mosquito at the top was not the right shape and the insect that had been used, though it did look like a large mosquito, was barely visible from even a short distance. So, I resculpted the cane segments with epoxy putty to produce some taper and replaced the amber knob with a much better one from a foam cane (the first one I'd bought). This knob doesn't have a real insect in it. Instead, it has an image of a mosquito printed on transparency sheet cut to shape. You can tell it's not a real insect if you look at it closely and from the right angle, but it is clearly recognizable as a mosquito from fairly far away. Finally, I repainted the cane with a semi-gloss ivory and weathered it and highlighted the joints between the bone segments with a lot of dry-brushing of brown and ochre paint.