Realm of the Mystic Griffin

Double click (left) any word to have the meaning of that word open in another page.

Fine Art Main Page| Mystic Nature |Animal Totems & Spirit Guides |Handcrafted |Stone, Fossil, Crystal Realm | Contact |Guestbook|

 Crafting Natural; Using Nature & Animal Based Products in Art & Craft Projects

 Thoughts, tips, and methods used by artist and webmistress Tree Pruitt.

 I, the web mistress here, do LOVE my husband; he's sooo patient with me. He's put up with all sorts of weirdness ranging from bowls of foaming yuck, to stuff that smells like dinner -- but oh so ISN'T! He knows the crafting results are generally worth while, though. I married a man who claimed to be my biggest fan, and below you can read about some of my small taxidermy like projects he has to deal with on a regular basis.  :)

Disclaimer: To be used at your own risk; methods I personally use in my own projects. The text written below is offered based mainly on the personal trial and error efforts. USE ADVISE AND INFORMATION AT OWN RISK. I am not an expert, at anything really, and you should probably think twice about taking advise from anybody on the Internet anyway. :) Be careful, be responsible in gathering materials, learn from different resources, and just have fun! The article below is by no means all of the information available.

Contents

* Mold & Mildew Issues for the Artist; conservation & cleaning

* Cleaning and Coloring Bones and Antler

* About My Use of Animal Parts

* Use of the term "Native American" & Spirituality Arts & Crafts

 Coloring bone is just like coloring or staining many other things, such as fabric, but it takes a bit longer for color to set. Rit dye can be used, but I personally like natural best. Tea gives a pale red in a high key tone. Coffee and tobacco offer deeper tones and are generally darker. Coffee wasn't used by native people for staining until later in time, of course, but has been used for some time. Many berries can be used for soft purples and reds, but take care and know your plants -- many are poison.
  What I personally do is get the coffee grounds or leaves going to a brisk boil, then remove from heat. When the water is still very hot, but not boiling, I drop in the bone beads, antler, or leather even. Then I add a good amount of white vinegar to "set" the color, just like dying fabric. This is used for dense bone like leg bones; antler takes even longer generally. From my understanding, the heat forces the fibers of the bone tissue to open a little and allows the stain to seep inside. For small bones that are more delicate, I wait until summer time. Then I soak them in the sunlight instead of dropping them into such hot water from boiling. Smaller bones can just pop apart if soaked in hot water -- don't want to cook them, you know. I let them soak in the sunlight for several days depending on the type of bone, stirring carefully to avoid bacteria build up. The boiling method can give good results overnight. Cheap bone beads and horn beads, that look brittle, will fall apart using this method; take care and test one first. I've never had bones or beads come out fuzzy, like over cooked chicken bones, but pre-polished beads might need to be sanded a bit BEFORE coloring so the liquid can soak in and do the job. When you see the color you want, rinse the bone or whatever until the water runs clear and vinegar smell is gone. They can be allowed to dry, baked at a VERY low temp to dehydrate faster. Buff, polish, or finish how you like.
  Other ways to color natural bone and antler can be used alone, or with dye. Burning, to decorate, can make weaken natural surfaces, but smoking and burning can give lovely effects. A torch can make swishy whip like marks, with care. Do not put moist bone into a blow torch flame or high heat; it can pop causing injury. Oven dry or air dry moist stuff for several days before scorching and burning. Don't forget that the sun bleaches bone white -- even in the winter. Try setting some out side in a safe sunny place to lighten bones. Black or brown shoe polish can be rubbed into a dried layer, let to soak. Rub off the extra, and do the buffing all over again for darker tones. Black is the most difficult color to get. Just keep working the color in, and maybe use a very light sand paper between every few coats. The light scratches will allow spaces for new pigment to soak inside the grain. Heating pads can help oils and wax to soak into surfaces. Buffing can offer a high shine, in many cases, for a hand rubbed finish.

(Show below, an example of hand antiqued bones and bone beads by the artist.)

 Working with raw bone; as in from a butcher? Boiling can cook the bone and cause the fibers to be splinters; or out right damaged. The best way to preserve the lustrous qualities of raw bone (still pink inside) is to let Mother Nature have at it. Hang it from a tree, or some place where animals can't get to it; put it in a cage outside. "Fly babies" will clean it. Sterile maggots can be purchased, but the wild ones are fine generally. When the insects have abandoned the bone, and it's dry looking, it can then be soaked it very hot water to soften any remaining tissue for removal. Don't let it get rained on for several days in a row, if it's outside. To sanitize, place on an old cookie sheet and bake in the oven at the lowest temp (about 150) for about 1 to 1 1/2 hour per pound of bone. If your oven runs hot, prop the door open a bit every now and then, because again, you don't want to cook the bone, (a smaller table top oven could be bought just for craft use).
  If you don't want to heat treat at all, a mild bleach solution can be used. Soak and rinse, then soak in clean water to remove detergents from bleach. Both boiling and bleaching can cause dry splinter like results, if not done with care. NEVER put anything you've picked up at the ocean into bleach, especially bones! It gives off fumes of sodium chloride and will never stop, (Chlorine Gas). Boiling and over drying in the oven can mock an antique look or desert dried effect.
  Dehydrating with salt often works well to dry fresh animal products. Most craft stores carry dehydration silica crystals, such as for flowers. That product works best for smaller items because it has to totally cover what you want to preserve. The method and material makes the difference in what choices you might need to make for drying.

 It's a lot of trial and error with coloring hard textured animal products. Test one first in a small batch and go from there. Have fun with it! :) I recently did some coyote bone beads in coffee that went from bright white to a wonderful aged brown. I'm sooo happy with those! (I'm gathering the parts to make a choker or women's breast plate, perhaps, with them.) Google around to learn about methods people use to make fake antiques & frauds, and also conservation of antiques; many of those same methods and materials can be used as treatments in crafting NEW items, (not frauds of course). I've also found some good information at sites about Muzzleloading and historical re-enacting. I enjoy research and experimenting. A good deal of trial and error is pretty much how I figure the science, like chemicals and materials to use, for ageing and coloring stuff.

  -- Tree Pruitt, 2008

 When we wear or make items of the parts of animals who have died, we honor their energy by putting it to good use and acknowledging the sacrifice made. A small amount of energy remains always within hide, bone, antler, & such. It’s not a personal energy, per say, rather an archetypal force. You wouldn’t have a claw, say, from "George the wolf", but would hold the energy pattern of the attributes of all wolves. So that is why we include such items within our magickal tools. It’s a lovingly added resource, not just decoration. We utilize them with honor, love, and respect.

  Animal based products are obtained from a variety of methods. Many of our resources on this site come from reclaimed, vintage clothing. Some animals may have passed from natural causes, such as age or predation, allowing us to collect and prepare the remains for use. We also order some items from government sanctioned culling programs where much of the profit benefits overall wildlife health in the area. We do not harm animals in order to create any object we offer for sale, nor advocate any one else doing so. Some animal products may not be legal to own in your state, though we try to use those that are legal in most. International restrictions may also apply, so if in doubt check it out in your local area.