back to the BoNES

it's been a while since i posted about one of my passions...

BoNE Collecting & decorating!

last weekend sam and i rode the 4-wheeler across the street 

to the field where i find most of my bones. 

this deer spine isn't quite ready for me...

i left it there so the insects can clean it a bit more...

then i'll come back and gather the vertebrae and ribs...and further clean 'em.

 luckily...i'm the only *weirdo* in the neighborhood who seems 

to care anything about BoNES!  

so the only competition i have is with the vultures. 

 i can handle that.  i can share.  :]  

that day i also found a couple of squirrel skulls...

and a complete raccoon hand. i tried to pick it up in one piece, but all the ligaments were gone and it fell to pieces. so i collected them all, putting them into an empty water bottle...to be cleaned and then reassembled.

i collected a bunch of other bones. all deer...vertebrae & ribs. 

mostly clean...and sun-bleached. i just need to sanitize them. 

OK...now on to my Bone Art. a while ago i actually picked up roadkill...from the street i live on. an armadillo & young raccoon. i brought the (stinky) bodies to the house. put them waaaaay out back...covered with a grating & a couple of cinder blocks to keep other animals from stealing my cache! ha!  

i let the insects do their thing...until all that was left 

was a couple of piles of (fairly dirty) bones!

i cleaned them in a mixture of peroxide & water. 

              

NOW for the ART part! i wanted to make another one of my BoNE GARDEN "Scenes from Planet Beenderen Series" (Beenderen means 'bones' in Dutch). ((if you click on my ART SAMPLING PAGE tab  above you can see a few more of these))  i do these on  small 4" X 4" beveled wood plaques. i sand it first to smooth it out, hammer a sawtooth hanger on the back and give it a base coat of white.
then using a small piece of sponge, 

i added other colors.

i started playing around with the little bones!!  (now, i know this sounds pretty strange...but these raccoon and armadillo bones feel so much different in my hands than the bigger deer bones i'm used to! they have a different sound...when you hold a few in your hand and mix them around.)

not quite right...it needs more...this little bone man from Planet Beenderen needs to be a little more unusual. and he needs to be IN the Bone Garden!

so i gave him one pair of  LONG arms...curving down to the ground...

and then a pair of lower shorter arms...added  some flowers made of the armadillo scales.  the HEAD is a raccoon vertebrae and the FEET are the little pads between the vertebrae.  i also added the wire moons which are always in the sky on Beenderen.

well...it's almost finished. i need to spray it with a clear acrylic coating. and i MIGHT fool around with bone man's eyes...possibly add a couple of tiny rhinestones. not sure yet. AND to come up with a good name!

before i go...i need to mention a couple of links...if you have a fascination with bones too...

you might want to check out this group on FB:  The Animal Skulls Group

the admin there has ID'd a number of my 'finds'!!!!

here's a site with some info on cleaning the bones you find: The Skull Site

and lastly, here's a cool link...kind of educational...

all about skulls & bones : Skulls Unlimited

i'm going to leave you now with a couple of other pictures i took while bone hunting...

^the butterfly above is the Eastern Black Swallowtail^

this fence lizard REALLY blends in >>

 

the Gulf Fritillary...

well...that's it for now...

be safe...where ever you may roam...and thanks for stopping by...

laura  :]