X-rays or MRI's

[Larrissa]

What is someting interesting to do with x-rays or mri's?

[tara472]

from working at the hospital, i asked several of the radiologists if the old xray/mris/ct scans would make good lamp shades, unfortunalty they dont. they tend to melt under heat, and also release toxicness and contain mercury. it could be done if the lamp was just for show, you could put a low watt lightbulb in and just not turn it on for any length of time, i would say an hour at the very very very very most and even that might be pushing it. wish i could be of more help, but let me know if you come up with anything as i have quite a few of them. maybe you could decorate them and hang them in the window??

[second-hand-smoke]

here is THE MOST amazing thing i have ever seen done with an xray. friend of a friend - incredible artist! mathew cox - EMBROIDERS them. and i don't mean just an outline of the bones - we're talking full blown full color intense needlework. check it out here:
http://jonathanferraragallery.com/current.html
he also does these beautiful drawings using rubber stamps as the medium. check them out on the same site - go to featured artists/mathew cox/rubber stamp drawings. really really cool.

[Larrissa]

that embroidery really kicks ass  , thank you for sharing it!!!

[mrsjacobs]

My husband and I have both had head MRIs done for headaches. Turns out we were both just stressed out at the time... however, I have pages and pages of little pictures of the inside of our heads, and as we both decided to marry because the other one understands us so much better than anyone else on the planet, I'm convinced there is a way to craft them together and call it, "Put Your Heads Together". Having ruled out lampshades, I'm still trying to figure it out... Obviously, it needs to be backlit, but how?? And as it is a coming together piece, the shapes need to reflect that, without obscuring what they are.... hmm... I will figure it out eventually... gimme five years...

Anyone with ideas could shorten that time... ideas??

-amelia

[seleniebeanie]

I have a lampshade that had that pleated type fabric covering and I removed it to have a nice, smooth surface - use a spray adhesive on the shade, lay your x-ray around it and trim. The shade gives diffused light, and doesn't get too hot. If you're a real keener you could figure out mathematically how much to trim off each edge so they don't overlap... 

For a kid's activity you could cut them into squares and make pinwheels from them

this would be interesting to try - unfortunately, we don't get to keep our x-rays in our country.
A "stained glass" window  - spray paint lightly several sheets different colours
draw a design on a piece of paper the same size as your window you want to do.
cut out your paper pattern pieces on the coloured x-ray pieces of acetate.
{ or make a cool checkerboard border effect around the outer edge of your window panes - it's easier}
To attach it to your window pane, all you need is a squirt bottle filled with water and a cloth/paper towel. squirt the water on the window and lay your coloured pieces in place, blot the excess water with your cloth, and they'll stick. If you get tired of them, just peel them off. If one gets knocked off, just squirt more water & it's back up!

Cheers!

[frankeknitter]

If you used a LED bulb you could do a lampshade. LEDs don't exude heat.

[Tanza]

old xrays back awesome stencils.

great for scrap booking shapes and even for painting stencils that you want to use over and over.

[dewshinesdopp]

I have tons of them.  I had about a dozen doctors convinced that I had MS, despite umpteen prior MRIs that said otherwise, and back injuries galore.  It seems like every single doctor insisted on a new batch of Xrays and MRIs for awhile.

I plan to "paint my pain" on the xrays- I don't know how to describe it, other than the film will be the background and I will do whatever feels right at the time.

[JS]

I don't know the image sizes you have, but what about aligning them in a frame with a clear back (plexiglass maybe), and  positioning in front of a light that has one of those long tubular lightbulbs?  The kind of light that gets mounted over a sink or recessed into ceilings?