bone

This was my first bone carving project. It started as a shard that broke off a larger piece. I spent 2 days grinding it against a rock to create the needle like shape. The bone is about 2 inches long. I added the found feathers and semi-precious stone beads. This is one in a series of embellished found objects I've been working on for the last several months, all of which incorporate 18 gold threads.

At left is another bone shard that I am working on making into a needle form using jewelry files. It is thin, flat and getting pretty sharp. At right is a complete piece of bone (not a shard) that I am grinding using only a stone. It has more dimension is very rounded particularly at the point and gets flatter nearer the thicker end.

This last image (at top) is a piece of bone that broke off in a shape that suggested a running horse head to me. I have been using jewelry files and saws to tease out the form. The piece below it was a similar shape so I am working to do the same in a mirror image.

What's amazing to me about this process is how I am circling back around to skills I haven't really used in years. When I was living in Los Angeles I took fine jewelry making classes, and learned basic filing and sawing and solderning skills. The tools and skills are coming in handy now. And bone is softer than metal.