As part of the beginning of the year clean and cull I came across some odd bits and pieces I had collected or been given for making stuff out of. Some I have already used but others not.
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Detail of the starting material |
Today I decided use: bone I had cleaned and bleached; some pearl shell I was given about 25 years ago and used in part many years ago; some buffalo horn I was given about 7 years ago by a guy who had collected it in the NT about 40 years ago; and a bone handled knife I was asked to cut up and create some plain memory filled jewellery from.
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Material described about |
I knew roughly that I was going to use the bits to create simple objects: pendants and earrings. The first task is cutting - and let me say that cutting bone, pearl shell and buffalo horn needs to be done in a well ventilated area and wearing a good dust mask as the fine particles are do good for the lungs at all. Cutting these materials with a fine saw takes time but enables one to get quite a few pieces from the product and still have material left over.
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Pieces cut |
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Leftovers for another day |
Same with the drilling of holes for pegs, embellishments and earwires; and the sanding of the cut pieces - double masks required - fine fine dust.
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Drilled and sanded |
But the end results were good to see. I haven't used buffalo horn before - but I really like its dark texture. The horn needed a lot of grinding to get the old layers of dirt and cracked horn off.
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Potentially 3 pair of earrings and one pendant from the knife handle |
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Potentially 4 pendants and a pair of earrings |
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| ©2017 Barry Smith - Potentially 5 pendants and a pair of earrings |
I now need to do the final grinding and polishing of the edges before assembling the pies - but that will happen over the weekend.
Always fun to see your works in progress and fascinating to see what direction you go with unique raw materials. Inspiring!
ReplyDeleteHi AA - thanks for dropping into the blog and leaving your comment. Works in progress indeed - though they did turn out well. Wishing you much health and creativity in 2017. B
ReplyDeleteSo interesting to see your progress photos, Barry. I always love the process. I can imagine how dangerous all that fine dust could be. I can't remember seeing my grandfather using a mask when he cut or ground pearl shell but maybe he did... I'm so glad you do!
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