Copper Needle and Fox Bone Necklace

Antiqued copper needle and bone necklace

Here's a look at the latest reproductions - the copper needle and the fox bone necklace are finished.  That's five pieces down and 12 to go in the Central Arctic set.  Again, if you'd like to see the original artifacts that these are based on, you can view them in the Canadian Museum of Civilization's online artifact catalog:

Needle: IV-D-330
Necklace: IV-D-371

Copper Needle, approx 7.3 x 0.3 x 0.1cm

Copper Needle:  I explained in an earlier post how I hammered and aged this copper needle reproduction.  Its been a while since I worked with the red wine vinegar and miracle gro patinating solution.  I re-learned that less is more when using it.  The patina doesn't form until the vinegar evaporates, so a light dab on the surface works much quicker than submersing the whole thing and waiting for the surrounding liquid to evaporate.  A light dab in a sunny room will start a patina in less than an hour.

Fox bone necklace on twisted sinew cord

Fox Bone Necklace:  This necklace is made up of 58 fox metacarpals and metatarsals, antiqued in tea and strung on a twisted sinew cord.  It makes a nice tinkling sound when it moves.  Other than the holes drilled through the top of the bones, there doesn't appear to be much modification done.  From the scale in the artifact photo, it looked like the bones on the necklace ranged from about 3.5 cm to 6 cm, so I selected bones to match those lengths.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast