2009-04-28

Animal-Like Leg Extensions

Clipped from: Kim Graham Studios

Digigrade Leg Extensions

These are Digigrade leg extensions. They are made of steel and add 14 inches of height to the wearer. But these are not ordinary stilts; they give a person the uncanny and graceful appearance of an animal. It is really cool! The movement of the legs is genuinely graceful and naturalistic. It is a great deal of fun being so much taller.
Clipped from: YouTube - Digilegs Demo



Clipped from: Silk Mermaid

Constructing large sculptures, step by step

Professional sculptor Kim Graham works at many scales. She especially likes creating large-scale (12-15-foot, 4-5m) sculptures. On this website, SilkMermaid.com, Kim describes in exact detail each step in constructing these large projects, from initial maquette (model) to eventual completion.

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From time to time, Kim has paused work on the large projects to execute other commissions. She chronicles some of these on this blog, such as her recent commission “Satyr Legs.” The Satyr Legs project prompted Kim to design her new digigrade leg extensions, [...]
Clipped from: Digitigrade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Digitigrade

A digitigrade is an animal that stands or walks on its digits, or toes. Digitigrades include walking birds (what many assume to be bird knees are actually ankles), cats, dogs, and most other mammals, but not humans, bears, and a few others (cf. plantigrade, unguligrade). They are generally quicker and move more quietly than other mammals.

While humans usually walk with the soles of their feet on the ground, i.e. plantigrade locomotion, digitigrade animals walk on their distal and intermediate phalanges. Digitigrade locomotion is responsible for the distinctive hooked shape of dog legs.


Sources:
  1. Kim Graham Studios
  2. Kim Graham's Gallery
  3. YouTube - Digilegs Demo
  4. Digitigrade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  5. Silk Mermaid

Related:
  1. Scary: These Crazy 'Animal Leg' Extensions - Geekologie
  2. Gizmodo - Bionic Animal Legs Are Built For Theater and/or Enchanted Woodlands - Digitigrade leg extensions