During the Last Week...

I've been making asymmetrical earrings using stones, fossil walrus teeth, and mastodon bone and I have to say, I just love working with these materials. The center earring is my absolute favorite of the five earrings! It's almost 4" long, but the mastodon bone is so light in weight that I hardly know I'm wearing it. The bone, having been buried for eons, is rather dull in appearance and needs a bit of "elbow grease" to obtain the soft patina you see here. As the bones I have on hand are larger I must first saw them to size and shape, sand, and buff them to a soft luster. The stones used in these earrings are set in sterling silver and are from left to right: turquoise and Botswana agate, fossil walrus tooth and turquoise, peach moonstone and mastodon bone, fossil walrus tooth and cherry quartz, and cherry quartz.I hope in the coming months to amass a good sized collection of finished pieces that I'll be willing to part with (I'm not at present!) and when that happens I'll list some of my metal work in my Etsy shop. Stay tuned!