Dem bones, dem bones, dem fish bones! Part 2

This tutorial post is continued from
Dem bones, dem bones, dem fish bones! Part 1

Spooky fish skeleton that is not just for Halloween.
At least that is what I think anyway.
I love this cane.
I hope you have fun making it too.


You will need:
Black Cernit
Opaque White Cernit
Porcelain Cernit
Biscuit Cernit
Clay slicing blade
Clay machine
Ruler if you wish

I mixed the black clay with Biscuit and the white clay with porcelain in equal parts
Condition and roll out the black in to a sheet on the thickest setting in your clay machine.
This is the last picture from part 1 here
Dem bones, dem bones, dem fish bones! Part 1

Add a sheet of white to the center of the cut on one side. The sheet will be rolled out on the 3rd thickest setting.

Put the stack back together with the white sheet in the middle...

Roll a 1/2" coil of the white clay and press in to a triangle with your thumb and forefinger.

Add the triangle point up to the fish bones. Like this.

Roll a 3/4" coil of black.

Press that coil into a triangle too.
Make the points of the triangle pretty sharp.

Trim the triangle black piece to fit the stack of rib bones.

Cut that triangle piece in half.

Make the points even sharper if you have too.

Add one half to one side of the tail and the other half to the other side of the tail. Press in to the tail evenly.

Add a sheet of black clay rolled out on the thickest setting in the pasta machine to the bottom of the tail.















Like this!

Roll a 1" coil of white clay and trim to the length of the stack of bones and tail.

Press this in to a triangle shape and see if it is the same size as the stack of bones and tail.

Cut straight down and cut off one point of the triangle.

Like so!

Place a bamboo skewer or brass rod on the cut side of the big triangle on the top 1/3 of the triangle.
Press the rod gently in to the triangle.

Add the other cut sections right back to the triangle with the brass rod still in place.
Form the 2nd cut half around the rod to form a half circle cell in the both pieces of the triangle.

Peel the one section off the other section and remove the brass rod.
Roll a coil of black clay the size of the brass rod about 1/8" and place in the channel of the big part of the white triangle.
Cut off the black coil so it is the length of the white triangle piece.

Place the smaller section of the triangle together with the larger one leaving the black coil inside.

This will be the eye for the fish bone cane.

Using your blade again cut into the opposite side of the cane at more of an angle. Cut all the way through to the bottom edge of the white triangle.

Like so.
Pull off the small section while never changing the orientation of the pieces.

Roll out some black clay on the 3rd thickest setting and place a strip about 1/4" in width on the length of the small cut off white piece of the larger triangle.

This piece will slide under the bigger white piece of the triangle, so the black strip will go along the outside edge of the small piece.

Like so!

Using your thumb and forefinger compact everything together. Shaping back in to a triangle and pressing the small piece with the black together with the large piece of the triangle as if it is one piece.














Place the triangle head in the center of the bones on the stack.

Roll a black coil that is 1 1/8" in diameter and the length of the stack of fish bones.

Press in to a triangle shape and cut the pieces in half.

Make the points of the triangle more defined.
Place one half on each side of the head of the fish.

Wrap all sides with a sheet of black rolled out on the thickest setting.














Reduce by compressing all sides one at a time with the palm of your hand and then flipping the cane from end to end and compressing all 4 sides of the cane again.
Repeat this slowly and gently until the cane is smaller by half the size.
It is best to be more forceful in the center of the cane to force the inside of the cane out.
As Katherine Dewey once told me "Oh, you are pressing on the "x" and the "y" axis which forces the "z" out through the center".
EXACTLY!

This is the inside of that cane using that method!
Enjoy and have a safe and fun Halloween!


Boos and hisses!

Wednesday Wonder- a bone to pick

I have a morbid fascination with bones, this goes back pretty far. I can remember thinking that porcelain looked bone like. I made a necklace that was "bones" pretty early in my clay experience. It was 1972 and I sold one. I still have some of those beads made from porcelain.

Here is the modern-day version of that necklace here.
This necklace was published in Arts and Crafts magazine when it was still around.

I have lived most of my life in a rural setting and I attribute my obsession fascination to that and probably genetic memory.

We were always around life and death when I was growing up, it is the cycle of the farmer, animal breeder, and rural liver. We also have tons of owls around here and there is this cute little package of bones called an owl pellet. You can open them up and sometimes see a perfect little animal skull with the vertebrae intact. I think of them as owl hair balls.

We used to find whole frogs with the guts squeezed out and just a hollow form from them being smashed on the road. I found a whole horse carcass once. I always wondered what happened to that horse.

Sick, I know, but I always used to think of ancient man and if they would have made a purse out of that frog and if they would have worn mouse bones in their ears for adornment. They probably would have done something with the horse so that there was no trace of it left.

I had a lot of time alone when I was a kid living in what was called the boonies.

So, it would only be natural in my opinion to like bones and to like looking at them. If it is in my art work, it is only a matter of time before it makes it to a Wednesday wonder as a non traditional medium. After just having Halloween and the Day of the Dead. I thought it a perfect time to talk about it.



See more of Francois' art at his site http://francoisrobertphotography.com/
bare bones political statements.

 Here is a Francois Robert's Bone Art.

You can see Francois Roberts awesome pieces at the Carl Hammer Gallery page
where I got these photos.

Here is a fascinating article on using all types of body parts for art medium
http://weburbanist.com/2010/08/23/body-art-creations-made-of-human-flesh-blood-bones/


Sarah Perry is another artist that uses bones and body parts as a medium.
You can see her work here



Sarah Perry's "Pull of the Moon"
photo from http://www.netropolitan.org/

 WOW, that is so beautiful.
You can see some more of Sarah's work at Artnet.com
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/426011091/173223/sarah-perry-the-meek.html.

There is Christy Rupp chicken bone art
http://www.christyrupp.com/new/twomoas.html

There is the Bone Church, this is amazing and very cool!
http://www.artgraphica.net/art-shop/prague-kutna-hora-bone-church.htm

From Curious Expeditions, a site worth going back to again I think!
http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=79

Then there is bone as canvas, as in Scrimshaw ala Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimshaw

Here is an article for cleaning and bleaching bones if you are so inclined to use them in your art.
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/peroxide-bleaching-skulls.html

Just a bunch of stuff to bone up on. ;-D

Bones and Stones

Now the mayhem and getting ready for the season I love so much begins. I have been waiting for this forever it seems.

Wear a fabulous knuckle necklace, a bone to pick, to a spooktacular evening of elegance ala a stony entrance with appendages dangling from your neck.
*all links in this list will lead to my husbands http://www.clayfactory.net/ store if you are looking for these products*
You will need:

Cernit phthalate free polymer clay 1- 2 ounce package of opaque White, Caramel, and Granite
7/16” round or teardrop cutter
Ruler
Slicing blade
Ne-Opaque Black or brown
Stencil Brush ½ inch round
Bamboo skewer
Old towel
Cylindrical glass jar or rolling pin
Copper wire 14 gauge
Wire tools round nose and side cutters

Mix 4 parts of white to 1 part of caramel until it is one color



 
 
 
 
 

 
Roll out a coil that is 3/8” to 7/16”

Cut in to 2” sections
I use17 sections for the necklace and 3 sections for the bracelet



 
 

 
 
 
 
Place one of the sections on the top of your fingers and roll the fingers over the coil and smash the coil into your fingers

Sometimes I even have to squeeze my fingers down with my other hand to make very deep impressions
Do this to all of the 20 sections you have

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Poke holes in all 17 sections at one end for the necklace




 
 

Cut 2 of the 4 in to 3rds, and 1 of the 4 sections in to 4ths (I show 2 of the sections cut in half I didn’t like them that long and decided not to use them)

Poke holes through the middle of each cut section you have made.

These will be for the bracelet.

Condition the granite clay and roll out to ¼ thick with a glass or rolling pin


Cut out circles or teardrops with the cutter

Roll those in to balls and flatten a little with your fingers
Pole a hole through the center of each one

Bake all of your bones and stones in a preheated 275 degree oven for 30 minutes, shut off the oven let cool.

When pieces are completely cool take the stencil brush and load it up with black or brown Ne-opaque and punch the color in to all of the bones.

Take the old towel and wet it a little and squeeze out the excess.

Wipe off the extra paint and leave the bones looking old and rotten looking.

I have strung mine on to 14 gauge copper wire and bent hooks in each end for both the bracelet and the necklace
 
 
 
 
 

It doesn’t have to be fancy, just loops on each end like the bracelet will be fine.

Wilma Flintstone would be jealous.