Playing with Bones

[thalassa]

Re: Playing with Bones

To clean up a pretty raw bone, the beatles are best, but I use the stinky method (you're not supposed to boil bones because it softens them. However, for big heavy walled bones it doesn't hurt).

To clean bones using the stinky method, get two big 5 gallon buckets (the Walmart bakery sell them used for $1). Fill one up with water, dump your bones in it, and set it somewhere safe, far from your house - because it will STINK!

Let it sit for about 2-3 weeks. All the meat, including the marrow, will rot away - that's why it stinks...

I'm not sure if it would work with bone, but I know it works with shell and other little sea critters (crabs, etc)...put it somewhere anty, wait about a week. The little guys clean it out for you. Still a wee bit stinky until you clean it out.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Playing with Bones

Oh, this is awesome.

I've been looking for a source for bone beads for some of the dolls I've been making. Much better to make them myself!

If you are looking to buy bone beads, order up a free catalogue from Fire Mountain (http://www.firemountaingems.com/) - you'll be able to see nice pictures of pretty much every bead that is available, and the prices are pretty reasonable (but you can sometimes find them cheaper is you shop around).

Making them can be pretty labor intensive unless you have a small lathe, but, if I were making them, here's how I'd do it (sorry - no time to shoot pics!):

First, cut out and file a piece of bone so that it is square in profile, and then file off each corner at about a 45 degree angle -





You'll want a set of needle files to do the next bit. Needle files are small files that come in a variety of shapes. Here's a link so you can see what I'm talking about:

http://www.contenti.com/products/files/231-006.html

This is a cheap set, but they will last you years anyway, if you talk nicely to them while you use them - here's how you hold them (the finger is used to put a small amount of pressure on the file as I described earlier):



After you've created an octagon by filing off the edges, file again to remove each new corner. When you've finished, it will look like a cylinder with slightly squared off sides:



Take the bone cylinder you've made and use a piece of sandpaper to make it fully round. Sand and polish as desired.

At this point, you can go in different directions, depending on the shape you want your beads to have. If you want disc beads, cut the cylinder as indicated by the dotted lines:



Then, drill a hole in each disc bead. You could try drilling through the whole thing before cutting, but the drill bit is likely to wander (unless you use a drill press) and the holes will be increasingly off center as you go along...



If you want to make beads with different profiles, before you cut the beads apart, file between each bead using a needle file with the correct profile for the shape you want - here's what happens with a round file and a triangular file (dotted lines indicate where the beads will be cut apart:



If you want to make round beads, file between each bead with the triangular file as show in figure H, then round them off with the flat file:



Finally, cut the beads apart and drill them.

It's a long explanation, but I think you could do this pretty quickly with a little practice.

---------- Post added at 08:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 PM ----------

I'm not sure if it would work with bone, but I know it works with shell and other little sea critters (crabs, etc)...put it somewhere anty, wait about a week. The little guys clean it out for you. Still a wee bit stinky until you clean it out.

Yup - I bet that would work. That's the way the bones I find have been cleaned - beetles, ants, birds, 'coons, fungus and rot - everything gets a bit of a taste...

[Dez]

Re: Playing with Bones

Wow...that's a lot to think about. Sounds like a great thing to learn how to do, though. Thank you for the site link! I'm going to have to hunt through their inventory.

[ChainLightning]

Re: Playing with Bones

I really need to visit Michigan. Dagnabbit.

[Juniper]

Re: Playing with Bones

I know I'm reviving an old topic here... but Corbin, do you take commissions?

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Playing with Bones

I know I'm reviving an old topic here... but Corbin, do you take commissions?

Ehmmmm... Yes. Unfortunately, my current life circumstances don't allow me to make too many promises, and I wouldn't bet on my own reliability these days, but if you PM me with an idea, you can bet that, for Juni, I can make it happen.