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Post by fernwood on Jun 19, 2019 8:31:31 GMT -5
Need some help here.
A friend and long time customer asked if I could inset portions of a dried deer skull with polished stones. The inset areas would be the eye cavities and possibly, tooth areas.
It would require grinding eye appropriate stones to fit eye cavities. Both eyes the same material. Must be eye color, but does not need to look like eyes. They mentioned Tigers Eye, Amethyst, Quartz, Turquoise as possibilities, but are open to others. Then doing some dremel and rotary polish. Using epoxy to set the eyes in. The eyes would need to be about 2" by 1".
The teeth seem like a harder task to me. They want a combo of original teeth and some stone replacements. Quartz, Amethyst, something yellow/brown that is not from the Quartz family. Plus to carefully remove the remaining teeth and polish them. Then put them back in.
The skull would need to be polished with dremel to a semi gloss finish.
Will not share what their initial offer was to do this, but it is huge. I estimate about 30 hours to complete, not counting polish time. Supplies would be about $40.00.
Has anyone done anything like this before? If so, could you provide some pointers?
Thanks
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Post by MsAli on Jun 19, 2019 9:31:35 GMT -5
I cant even picture what this would look like
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,726 
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 19, 2019 9:41:31 GMT -5
I seen a few in the rock shows around here, pretty impressive to say the least..... I have a photo of one of the skulls, I will try to find it..
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Post by fernwood on Jun 19, 2019 10:13:10 GMT -5
I am very much into doing this. I see an image. Am friends with customer. Know what stones she loves.
As a 4-H leader, I had one very artistic member do a large Buffalo skull with a similar process. She did some intricate paintings on the skull. Inset rocks for eyes and some teeth. Her project ended up winning a State fair medal. She sold it, as a 15 year old for $2000.00 in the 1990's.
Just say that my customer will pay over $1000.00 if I can pull this off. I will have to show her the eye/teeth rocks prior to refining them. Maybe several examples. Let her choose. She knows it will be a several month process.
I am so into this. I have about 8 deer skulls that were left by former tenants. They were on back of garage. Access to many others from local friends.
I dunno. Maybe a new way for hunters who are into rocks to preserve their trophy as a great wall display. I envision back lighting to illuminate the eyes for some. The eyes would need to be at least a semi translucent material.
Sorry for typos, but only havinf left hand to type is tough.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jun 19, 2019 10:37:46 GMT -5
ETA - Re-read your description. Did not see any animal skulls, deer or otherwise, with gemstone eyes online. |
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360 
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Post by lookatthat on Jun 19, 2019 11:23:58 GMT -5
Check out bullseye agate. I saw some pretty amazing pieces up in/near Bancroft, Ontario, but I don't know where the stone originated. I bought one, it wasn't terribly expensive, I think about $12? but that was a few years back. I think mine is about 1.25 inches. It's the only place I had seen them, but they must be available somewhere else too.
The teeth certainly sound like a challenge, those things are fragile... maybe replace them with fossilized ones?
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Post by rmf on Jun 19, 2019 15:07:29 GMT -5
fernwood be sure to use a dust mask and good ventilation when grinding bone or teeth (recent) since you do not know how it was handled. It could have bacteria. That said I would not let that scare me away just be careful to not breath the dust and wash hands well or glove up. you should be able to polish the teeth in the scull. I would use a only 600 grit or finer and then Al2O3 polish or tin oxide. Same with the bone. Are you planning to carve teeth? If so use something soft like travertine. WI has a lot of that. Wierd projects like this make the hobby fun.
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Post by fernwood on Jun 19, 2019 15:48:28 GMT -5
rockpickerforever. That is a beautiful piece. rmf Oh yes. I am glued to my mask and gloves on stuff like this. I had previously soaked the skull in bleach. It was then used for a haunted house. Then in my utility room since. Have 6 other skulls there that had the same treatment. Was thinking minimal dremel shaping with Amethyst and Quartz for teeth. Might throw in a couple pieces of ND Pet wood.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jun 19, 2019 16:05:21 GMT -5
rockpickerforever . That is a beautiful piece. rmf Oh yes. I am glued to my mask and gloves on stuff like this. I had previously soaked the skull in bleach. It was then used for a haunted house. Then in my utility room since. Have 6 other skulls there that had the same treatment. Was thinking minimal dremel shaping with Amethyst and Quartz for teeth. Might throw in a couple pieces of ND Pet wood. It's just a pic I pulled off the internet. A lot more buffalo skulls done with turquoise or other stones, than there are deer skulls. But none with stones for eyes. It'll keep you busy for a while. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jun 19, 2019 20:12:42 GMT -5
fernwood, I would use Zam on a very soft buff to polish the teeth and bone after sanding it with really fine sandpaper. I used ZAM to polish some bear claws I had and it worked very well.
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