Whale bone with azurite inlay

[Rick P]

I made the body of this one yesterday but broke the cap during assembely. The section of bone I turned the replacement out of today had more spungiform matrix than I expected. I filled the ones that expossed the brass, and a few smaller ones for blending, with azurite.

Coments always welcome, thanks for looking.

 

[Rick P]

Back view.

 

[firewhatfire]

any idea what bone it was? That is pretty neat looking stuff. I assume its like any other bone or anler with smell.

Phil

 

[Rick P]

It's a piece of vertebra, the outside edges and the areas around the "horns" of the vertebra are the densest. The Phalanges (finger bones) are nice too. Ya it smells like burning hair rubbed in fish oil..........

 

[thewishman]

You sure make interesting things, Rick. Would the whalebone be suitable for scrimshaw?

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Nice looking pen, like the fills!

 

[Rick P]

Thanks Wishman.

Scrimshaw lends its self more to ivory ie teeth. The bone for this pen is more than likely from a bow head as they are the most commonly eaten whales here. Bow heads are baleegonous(sp?) whales, instead of teeth they have multiple plates of a hair like substance called Baleen. Baleen is a dark gray hard and flexible but only 1/4 inch thick. Only natives can work baleen and it dose take to scrimshaw but of a diferent type than you use to. Basically the lines of the drawing end up light and the back ground dark. A "whale bone corset" actually had baleen staves, not bone. Humpbacks and blue whales are in the same family as bow heads.

The teeth of odontocetes, toothed whales like Orca and sperm whales, were frequently used for scrimshaw.

Vertebra are to porous for scrimshaw, wow took the long way around that one eh!?!

 

[Rick P]

Thanks Mrs IPD

 

[kenlicciardello]

I really like that. Where do you get whale bone?

 

[Rick P]

I buy mine from a native gentelmen who collects it from the bone yard near his village.
Its very much in keeping wiht the reclaimed theme of most of my work.........it's left overs from some ones dinner, very old, big soup bones if you will.