Abby Wark, who led this project, decides to build the hat on a bicycle helmet, as shown in black.

Newspaper gets rolled up and taped to make the mold on the helmet.

As a neuroscientist in training, member Ben Land checks the detail to replicate the anatomy of a human brain.

So far, so good.

Member Sabiha Barot looks approvingly at the shape of hands that are placed on top.

Here comes the lip.

Can you see the face?

Wet strips of newspaper get pasted on to an entire surface.

Paste, when dried, solidifies structure of the mold.

First layer: the surface already looks smoother.

The finished product.

We wanted to create something that attracts people and brings awareness about the brain.  Wouldn’t it generate a lot of attention if we wore a hat that looks like a brain?  Wouldn’t it be a great teaching tool if hands and faces stuck out of the brain like a homunculus?

Inspired by Pacific Science Center’s model, we decided to create a homunculus hat of our own.

Materials:

1. Bike helmet
   

2. Latex gloves (a pair)
   

3. Masking tape
   

4. Newspaper
   

5. Paint
   

6. Paint brush
   

7. Papier-mâché paste

Real human brains have many valleys and ridges called sulci and gyri, respectively.  To recreate this impression of brain anatomy, Abby Wark, a member and captain of this project, decided to build a papier-mâché model of the brain on a bicycle helmet.

The homunculus of a brain shows areas of the brain that control sensation and movement of different parts of the body.  Funny, but true, the brain cells that control the hands are found on top of the brain, whereas the cells that control facial parts are found on the side.

There are many brain cells that control sensation and movement of the lips.  Accordingly, we created a big lip for the homunculus.  Technically, brain cells that control the tongue are found below the area that represents the lip, but to make the tongue easy to identify, we stuck it in between upper and lower lips.

Some parts of the body, such as the feet, legs and arms, are omitted to make our model simple.

The shape of the brain and body parts are molded using pieces of rolled up newspaper, which are held together with masking tape.

To make a solid structure and to smoothen the surface, strips of newspaper are wetted with paste and layered on every surface of the mold.

A layer of paste was completely dried before the next layer was applied.  Multiple layers were done over several days to reinforce the structure.

When the last layer was dry, Abby added a final artistic touch by painting the surface.

Craftwork by

Abby Wark, Barry Wark, Sabiha Barot, Ben Land and Hiro Watari

Special thanks to

Gregg’s Cycles for donating a bike helmet to us.

Abby’s mom, who provided expert advice on papier-mâché.