Mini pod and bone

©2019 Barry Smith - Mini pod in the maker's hand

As the title says this blog post touches on the mini pod I completed over the weekend; and the preparation of bone for carving.

First the mini pod. Called a mini because the finished pod is about 45mm at its widest point and 39cm  in diameter across the top. The most difficult thing about hammering out a small pod is being able to hold it firmly on the metal stake and not hit one's thumb or finger. A few process photos follow.

©2019 Barry Smith - Flat metal circles sunk into shallow bowl forms

©2019 Barry Smith - After several rounds of annealing and hammering

©2019 Barry Smith - Almost there 

©2019 Barry Smith - Completed - started as 7-8cm circle of recycled silver-plate and raised to the point that the curved in opening measures 3.9cm

As you can see from the photos below this pod is quite small compared to the earlier hand shaped pod. I was pleased with the outcome.

©2019 Barry Smith - A pair of pods on the rust table

©2019 Barry Smith - Mini pod on rusted bike gears

©2019 Barry Smith - A pod nest?

Recently I saw a book on bone carving in one of the local second hand book shops. I thought it would be interesting to give carving a go since I have used bone and horn in jewellery. I also wanted to see how one prepared the bone. Of course it sorted with buying a couple of large beef bones and getting the butcher to saw the knuckles off. All the surplus meat and coating on the bones had to be scraped off and marrow removed. I thin cut the bones into rectangles to enable me to finish the scraping and brushing before soaking in detergent and bleach. the dried bone looks ready for carving.

©2019 Barry Smith - Beef bone - scraped and soaked in detergent and bleach solution overnight

©2019 Barry Smith - After second scraping the bones were cut into usable pieces

©2019 Barry Smith - Pieces of clean bone soaking in bleach solution

©2019 Barry Smith - Pieces of dried bone - ready for carving

The bone I have used in the past for jewellery has usually been through a cooking process. According to the book this results in oil etc penetrating the bone. Processing it as I did is supposed to produce whiter bone - we will see.