Pan's Labyrinth flute

[Lotion Player]

I'm wondering if it's possible to make a bone flute like the Faun uses in Pan's Labyrinth with out cutting the bone in half?

 

[rollerboi]

It's probably resin cast around a regular flute, don't you think? Either that or drilled and plugged. Highly doubt they modified an actual bone.

 

[Lotion Player]

Probably But I'm gonna try a real bone and see if it works.

 

[RedTwoX]

It's probably resin cast around a regular flute, don't you think? Either that or drilled and plugged. Highly doubt they modified an actual bone.

Do you think they even went to that much trouble? I doubt the prop makes any noise at all. I would expect the sound to be added in post production.

Best of luck snowboardmoose. However, I think if you want to end up with an instrument that has good sound to it, you would be better off starting with a good sounding flute/pipe and sculpting the bone around it.

 

[Lotion Player]

well I'm not much of a sculptor so I'm probably to either going to drill a hole in the bone making the holes and putting the flute inside of it.

EDIT

Would it work if I just drilled a punch of holes in it because isn't that what a flute basically is.

 

[Bilbo Baggins]

http://www.wannalearn.com/Crafts_and_Hobbies/Woodworking/Building_Musical_Instruments/Flutes/

I hope you can make this work. Good Luck

 

[agent5]

Do you think they even went to that much trouble? I doubt the prop makes any noise at all. I would expect the sound to be added in post production.

BINGO! Just a prop, not a musical instrument.

 

[Apollo]

Echoing the chorus here, it was just a prop more than likely.

It would be neat if you could do a working one out of bone. :thumbsup

Keep us posted!

 

[Lotion Player]

Thanks guys and that website is really helping.

EDIT

It seems that this is the hole alingment.

 

[madrobot]

If you know how a flute works, you know that one end of the flute is open.

So, you have a means to hollow out the bone through one of the ends. Then you drill your aperature for where you blow into it, and of course the holes for the notes. The only real problem I see is that you can get ill from particulates in the bone marrow if you don't use some kind of sealant.

With that said, I wish you luck!

 

[Lotion Player]

Thanks and what kind of sealant would you recommend?

EDIT
I was wrong on the hole placement it seems they are larger in the middle and get smaller going out on each side

 

[Contec]

If i was going to make one , i would get a cheap flute and make the bone from super sculpy over the flute.

/Conny

 

[madrobot]

I would use some kind of clear enamel, or possibly a floor sealant.

 

[weaselflinger]

That bone looks like a human femur to me and if that's waht you plan to use, I would think it would be expensive (although I haven't priced human femurs). I would make sure to wear a good respirator for the bone dust/ marrow...

 

[Lotion Player]

Thanks for the input guys and I thought it looked like a human femur too but I'm going to find the closest match from an animal.

EDIT
I'm pretty sure a deer femur would work the best and for sealing it would I just run the sealant through the bone and let it dry or is there something else I should do.

 

[AlHazred]

I would think using actual bone would make a poor-sounding flute. Bones have lots of small hollows, unlike the woods used to make flutes, right? Wouldn't that lend a strange buzzing to the notes?

EDIT - That being said, wouldn't there be plastic simulated human femurs you could use?

http://store.dinosaurcorporation.com/humanfemur.html
http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-Human-Femur-Bones-Halloween-Prop_W0QQitemZ200199915276QQcmdZViewItem

The first one may or may not already be hollow. The second sounds like it could be drilled.

 

[Trooper_trent]

Thanks for the input guys and I thought it looked like a human femur too but I'm going to find the closest match from an animal.

EDIT
I'm pretty sure a deer femur would work the best and for sealing it would I just run the sealant through the bone and let it dry or is there something else I should do.

Being that this is a prop replica forum and not a flute making forum, I don't see that there would be a lot of people that would know the process of sealing the inside of a deer bone to make a flute.
I've made indian flutes out of wood and baked clay, but never out of bone. Not saying it can't be done, but the material is far from optimal. It splinters and cracks when cut or drilled. And the only way to eliminate the potential for disease is to dry it out, which makes it even more brittle. Even then, Breathing through an animal bone is a health hazzard

I strongly agree with the others and think that if you want a playable flute, get a fatter penny whistle or wooden recorder, and sculpt the bone around it in sculpy. Then once it dries, you can sand, paint polish, whatever. Keep in mind that the extra thickness over the holes from the clay will affect the tone and sound.


Give me some time, and I'll draw you up a couple of ideas of how I could see it working.

 

[Trooper_trent]

Thanks guys and that website is really helping.

EDIT

It seems that this is the hole alingment.

You can't really go off of a guide like that. Each flute (unless it is machined) is different on the inside, so depending on what scale you want, etc, the alignment and size will be quite different.
The process of doing this involves drilling tiny pilot holes in a position that's comfortable for your hands, then redrilling each one in very small increments until each one gives you the pitch you want. The bigger the hole the higher the pitch. So you want to start with all holes covered to get your low note, then decide what note you want next, and drill the bottom hole (closest to the open end) slightly bigger and bigger until it is the pitch you want. It's actually very complicated as you can't simply tune each note individually, because as you do the higher notes, it changes the pitch of the first notes you did, so its a gradual back and forth process, but once it's drilled too big, you can't go back. Takes flute makers years to get the skill down.

Another reason why I'd suggest sculpting the bone over an existing flute.

 

[Gigatron]

Playable or not, do you really want to be sucking and blowing on the leg of a dead guy (or deer). Sounds pretty frikken gross, if you ask me :sick. Get yourself a plastic bone and go from there.

Though sculpting a bone over an existing plastic flute is crazy easy - especially a femur. Bones have no distinguishing characteristics, like a face would. As long as it looks like a leg bone, noone can tell you it's wrong.

-Fred

 

[Lotion Player]

Thank you for the link to the plastic bone I'm probably going to buy one then drill into it to make it hollow and use a wood engraver for the swirls and by the way does anybody have any better shots of the swirls?