[Mullac]

Hi guys,

I'm making a music video which is essentially a time-lapse still-life scene of decomposing fruit with a pig's head as the centerpiece taking place over approx 2 months.
It's been about 4 weeks so far, and maggots have taken care of hollowing the pig's head, but I really need the pig's skin to slowly disappear over the next 3 to 4 weeks.
I've tried squirting some highly concentrated sodium hydroxide solution on parts of the skin with more or less no change. The problem is that from the research i've done
so far has let me to look at other chemicals such as 3:1 hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid however I get the impression that such a solution is likely to dissolve the skin
very quickly, when I really need something that will gradually eat away at the skin over the next 3-4 weeks.

I know some of you might be reluctant to help give me advise with such potentially deadly chemicals based on my 'newbie' status, but I can assure you that all safety
precautions will be taken with usage and disposal.

I would greatly appreciate any advice as this project has already cost me a great deal of money so far so it's quite important that I figure out a solution for this problem!

Cheers,

Mullac

[curiouscat]

I'm quite surprised conc. NaOH didn't work. That'll dissolve most animal matter.

[Arkcon]

Problem is, even though conc. NaOH will attack proteins and fats, pig skin is very dry tough keratin, and the fat is very hydrophobic, and the NaOH only works well with water.  If you wanted to dissolve muscle, that would work fine, over time, but the bugs are handling that for you.  But to attack any animal skin, you'll need to boil it in liquid.  More so really tough skins, like pig or cow, the sort that we use to make leather, precisely because they're so thick and tough.

[Mullac]

Thanks for the replies guys. Arkcon, I think you hit the nail on the head there. I've decided to use a little torch to slowly burn the flesh off and chip away at it slowly.

Not looking forward to the smell :S

Cheers