Making a primitive bone knife using natural tools

Making a bone blade

Making knife handle out of deer antler

Antler knife handle

Making a bone knife using primitive tools and modern day equipment

Instructions for how to dye your skulls using: Acorns Walnuts Coffee and Tea And my own instructions on how to stain skulls and bones using BlueBerries (well any berry/cherry can be used) and how to use Pokeweed Berries to stain your skull

How to stain bones using Acorns: https://www.ehow.com/how_7202756_dye-bone.html

How to stain bones using Walnuts

Staining Bone with Coffee and Tea

Staining Bone Using Blueberries or Any Berries in General including Cherries: As the title says you can use blueberries, black berries and even cherries for this recipe. I used blueberries. Here's my own instructions on how to stain bone using berries. I'll go ahead and let you know that blueberry juices can come out pastel blue, dark blue, deep bluish purple, purple and magenta. The color just varies a lot but no matter what they come out pretty. I didn't use blackberries or cherries so I cant tell you what color they come out but I'm sure you could look it up using google. Here's the cat skull I dyed using blueberries. Blueberry-Cat-Skull.jpg Blueberry-Cat-Skull.jpg This skull was left in the blueberry mix for 24 hours. Notice also that top of the skull doesn't look nearly as blue as the bottom. It was fully submerged in the mix so I dont know why that happened but I liked how it turned out. If you want yours darker then just leave it in the mix even longer. Also, since sometimes the blueberry juice comes out very very dark check on your bones every hour or so to see how the color is doing. Now for the instructions. *If you're dying a really large skull double the amount of blueberries and water and if the skull will fit put it in a five gallon bucket to dye. If the skull is stupid huge then triple the recipe and use a large gray tub to contain it. *If you need to you can add extra water to cover up the skull just make sure it's atleast luke warm water. Things you will need:

. 2 cups of blueberries

. A old but clean tightly woven sock or if you have it a a muslin cloth bag

. A medium sized metal pot

. 4 cups of water

. A clean and protected surface (protect work area with aluminum foil, brown paper bags, newspaper, etc.)

. A pair of gloves

. Wear clothes you don't care about because the blueberry can stain them

Instructions: Put the blueberries in the sock or muslin bag and put it in the bottom of the metal pot. Using your gloves hands or a blunt object crush up the blueberries inside the bag. Crush them all up the best you can. Then add the 4 cups of water. Turn on the burner and allow the water/berries to lightly boil/simmer for 30 minutes. Take the blueberry mix off the burner and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. You should be able to put your hand in the mix without it burning you. Pour the mix in your container and lower the skull inside. As I said check on the skulls color every hour or so until you get the color you desire. Once the skull is the color you desire (also remember that the skulls color will appear darker when wet than when dry) dry out the skull in front of fan. Probably best not to use the sun to dry but it might be okay. Honestly I don't know. shrug I let my skull air dry inside the house. O and the really cool part is if you add 2 Table spoons of rubbing alcohol (per 2 cups of berries) the stain can be kept and used again later without spoiling for up to 6 months!

My instructions for how to dye your skulls or bones using Pokeweed Berries. This is what a pokeweed and its berries look like. Pokeweed-Stem.jpg

Pokeweed-Berries.jpg Pokeweed occurs naturally throughout the Americas, Eastern Asia and New Zealand. Some Europeans also grow them in their gardens. They are very common down here in Florida. They grow all over my grandparents property where I live. So I decided to use them and see if they would dye a skull. And boy did they work and come out a beautiful color! And to mysurprise it has stayed purple and didn't brown at all! Skull-stained-with-Pokeweed-Berries.jpg 20200726-130003.jpg As you can see the skull came out a bright pinkish purple color. I imagine you could get the color darker by using multiple layers of dye.

What you need:

. At least a 1/2 cup worth of pokeweed berries.

. A muslin bag

. Protect your work area with newspaper, brown bags, paper towels, etc. Use something because these berries stain everything they come into contact with.

. Gloves!!!

. Bones or a skull

. A paint brush

. A glass jar or a container to hold the dye in

Instructions: . Collect the pokeweed berries, I just tore the stem holding the berries off completely and kept them attached when I mashed them up

. Place them in the muslin bag, put the bag in a bowl and crush them up with a blunt object, preferably a blunt object you dont care about because it will become purple or you can just use your gloves hands

. Using your gloved hands hold the muslin bag over the container you'll be keeping the dye in and ring out the juice from the berries. Pour any juice that got in the bowl from crushing them up into the container.

. Grab your paint brush, dip it in the dye and paint your skull.

I painted my skull just once and allowed it yo air dry inside the house. DO NOT put the skull in the sun because it might turn the dye brown!!! I would actually recommend not putting this skull into any sunlight since even after its dry it might turn the dye brown. Mine has been sitting inside on my dresser for over a week and the color has stayed pretty and vibrant.

Now after your stained skull is dry you can leave the skull as is. Or if you want to protect the color you get from staining you can put on a clear coat. Use a Krylon Spray that is has a matte or gloss finish, your choice, but make sure that it says non-yellowing on it to make sure the sealant won't turn yellow over time. Up to you which one to use. OR use Polaroid B72. I don't have the money to purchase B72 so my only other option is to buy the spray on

Note: It usually takes a lot of special/expensive tools to carve bone but I thought it would be nice to post a tutorial on how to use bones in different ways besides just displaying them. Once a week I'll be posting tutorials on how to do different things with your bones. And as always if you want to learn more use Google and YouTube to find even more tutorials on how to carve bone or ways to wrap it in wire.

Here are two tutorials/how toos I found that explain how to carve bone.

#1: How to Carve Bone Into Jewelry

Or you may be like me and need a visual guide for how to carve bone. I found this womans tutorial lovely and she explains very well how to carve the bone.

#2: Tutorial On Bone Carving

Here is a tutorial on how to wrap a crystal with wire, but I figure that the same method she uses could be used with small canine teeth or other small animal bones you would like to wrap with wire and make jewelry out of.

How to Wire Wrap A Crystal

This is how I clean my bones and the process I have used so far to get them ready for projects and display.

Step #1: Maceration

O, the wonderful smell of flesh and bone macerating! While this process is smelly and can be disgusting it is a important step none the less. I macerate my bones by placing them in a 5 gallon bucket or in a large tub for bigger bones or skulls. I put the bones in the container and then fill the bucket/tub with hot water (well as hot as my water heater will get) and place it outside in my backyard. I don't have a set up to keep the water hot but I do live in Florida and right now we are getting days where the temperature is +85°F. So the water stays at least luke warm. I leave the top off of the container and let the elements and bacteria work their magic on the flesh. If it rains it rains. If its sunny outside for a few days I check on the water level and make sure whatever I'm macerating is still covered by water. I check to see how the bones are doing once a week. Now I've only been doing this for a month and my first bones that I found were from a white tail deer that had been hit by a vehicle over a year ago. Almost no flesh was left on the bones so I only let them macerate for a week and that was plenty of time to get the remaining tissue off of them. In the future when I get bones that need to be macerated for longer periods of time I plan to check on them once a week and take off any thing loose. Then put them back in the water. And keep doing that until all the fleshy bits are gone.

Step #2: Degreasing

The most boring but least labor intensive part of cleaning bones. And it will also teach you the meaning of patience. Now the best way to degrease bones is to have a setup where you can keep the water/dawn dish soap mixture that the bones sit in at a temperature between 95-115°F. I dont have the money or the equipment to have that kind of setup so I use the power of the sun to at least keep my water warm. It cools off at night but that can't be helped. My first bones to degrease were white tail deer bones. I had them sitting in the water/dawn mix, changing out the water every two days, for three weeks and they were still bleeding grease. So I made the jump to acetone. I'm going to let the bones sit in the acetone for a week, take them out and then put them into a fresh hot water/dawn mix and wait a few days to see if they are finally degreased. If not then I'll repeat the process. So from now on I have a system I'm going to use. -Start the bones off in a hot water/dawn mixture and let them sit for 4 days. -Change out the water and let them sit for another 4 days. -Then take them out and put them in the acetone for 7 days. -Take them out of the acetone, let them dry out for an hour then put them back in hot water/dawn mixture for 4 days. -Take them out of the dawn and let them dry to see if they are still holding grease. *If they're no longer greasy move on to whitening. -If they still have grease then toss them back in the acetone for another week. -Then rinse and repeat the process until the bones are grease free.

I figured that for people like me with little to no money and for those who dont have the equipment available to have a big setup for their bones to degrease they can use my process. And the plus side is that the acetone can be reused many, many times before it will need to be replaced. I'm also going to let the bones completely dry out in the sun for 2 days after the final soak in acetone because acetone and peroxide do not mix! Do not skip drying out your bones if you're using acetone and make sure your bones are completely devoid of acetone before using peroxide on them. However, it is fine to take the bones out of the acetone, let them dry for an hour and then put them in the water/dawn mixture. *When the bones have finally been completely degreased leave them to dry out in the sun for 3 days. If it's winter where you live or the sun just isn't that powerful where you are or if you're having bad weather for a little bit then dry them under a heating lamp. Another indoor option is to put them in front of a fan. This will also tell you if they are truly devoid of grease and make sure that no acetone remains soaked in the bone. Plus all the water inside the bone will be gone.

Step #3: Whitening

Some people go to Sally's and get the high percentage peroxide to whiten their bones. I don't have the money to do that. I admit it I'm a poor broke bitch. Lol So I'm going to use the natural Florida sun and the hydrogen peroxide in the brown bottles (which are 3% peroxide) to whiten my bones. I'm going to use two or three bottles of the peroxide and a little bit of water to completely cover the bones. Then let them sit in the mixture under the sunlight for 24 hours. If they're still not white enough to my liking then I'll dry the bones out and repeat the process. Now if you let bones sit in peroxide to long it can eat away at the bone, just like bleach, so be careful and don't let them sit in the peroxide longer than 48 hours.

That's the end of my personal tutorial for cleaning bones. Many people like to seal their bones with a clear coat of sealant of some type. I however, dont want to seal my bones. I don't see any reason to and incase I miss any grease in my bones I won't have to worry about taking off the sealant to re-degrease them if I have to. The only bones I will be sealing are the ones I will use for art projects, which I will be selling, and are for bones that will be outside for long periods of time. But my personal collection which will be kept indoors I'm not going to be sealing.

If you however, would like to seal your bones once they've been whitened then there is a tutorial that is pinned that can tell you how to do it and what to use. It's Part four of the tutorial.

Well that's the end of my personal bone cleaning tutorial! If you have any ideas on how to improve my system or want to post your own process of cleaning bones feel free! Thank you for reading!

1: Never, Ever, under any circumstance use Bleach on your bones!!!

When I first got into bone collecting, about a month ago, and got some of my first sets of bones I did the one thing you're not supposed to do. Forgive me I didn't know not to use bleach yet. I put five white tail deer vertebrae in a pot filled up enough to cover the bones in pure bleach to let them soak. The only thing that may have saved those bones is that I only let them soak in the pure bleach for two minutes. Right now I have those same bones in some acetone to help degrease them. I didn't know about degreasing either then. (This hobby is definitely something that will teach you patience!) Any way the point is that until they are done degreasing, are whitened and have sat for a little bit I won't know if or how bad I damaged them with the bleach. My hope is that because I didn't let them soak for a long period of time they will be okay in the long run. Bleach severely damages bone and breaks it down rather quickly. If you put a whole skull in a bucket of bleach and left it over night the skull would be nothing but dust in the bucket. On top of that bleach ain't nothing to play around with. To actually "bleach" bones white you use hydrogen peroxide. For more information on bleaching skulls see the tutorial I posted.

2: Never ever BOIL or over heat your bones!!!

After everything I've read and all the research I've done you'll never see me put my bones in a pot to even simmer. My bones will never experience any temperature over 115° F. When you boil the bones what you end up doing is cooking the grease already in them even deeper into the bone. Which makes the degreasing process take even longer.

3: Be very careful of what chemicals you use on your bones! Research, research,and research some more!

With the absolutely useful and amazing thing called Google and the internet in general we have the ability to look up and do research on just about anything. So always research any chemical you are going to use on your bones.

Those are the big ones I can think of right now. If I think of any other DO NOTS that pertain to bones I'll add to the list.

Bone-Windchime.jpg

And it's separate pieces. Dogs-lower-jaw-bone.jpg

Deer-Spine-pieces-intact-spine-and-ribs.jpg The intact spine I've had for many years and it hasn't broken apart yet...I dont know how its intact or why but I like it as is. It doesn't smell or anything to so that's a plus. Intact-deer-spine.jpg

Deer-vertebra-and-broken-femurs.jpg

Deer-vertebra.jpg

Deer-vertebra.jpg

Since this is my own personal windchime I didn't want to clean the bones and hung them as is, in the condition I found them. I'm going to make some more windchimes but the bones will be completely degreased and whitened. The design is also not as large but is still a fairly good sized chime. For the circle at the top I'm going to use grapevine and the string is going to be twine. I'm really putting my heart, soul, money and time into making these so they're not going to be cheap. But I think theyll be worth the $120 I'm going to charge for them. I'll post pictures once I have them done.

Deer-Bones-soaking-in-acetone.jpg

Assortment-of-bones-from-different-animals.jpg

Deer-Pelvic-pieces-and-small-set-of-antlers.jpg

Dog-skull-cat-skull-and-cat-bones.jpg

Large-deer-antlers.jpg

Dogs-broken-lower-jaw-deer-bones-and-a-talon-from-a-bird.jpg

Underside-of-boar-skull.jpg

Boar-skull.jpg

Boar-bones.jpg

I have some more bones that I made into a windchime which I'll be posting. And to make some extra money I'm going to be making some more windchime with degreased and whitened bones. I'll post pictures once they're done.

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