Progression of a piece

This is a horse skull I have been carving now for the past month. It is from a Clydesdales horse, natural death. The back of the skull is missing due to decomposition. The skull is called nature cleaned. The animal was not killed to create art.

I start with drawing out a general map of the area I am going to carve on the skull. I use this map to create a paper pattern that I trace or draw onto the skull itself with a pencil or maybe I use a heat transfer, the same as used to make a transfer for a tattoo. Once I am satisfied with the general placement of the drawing, I might put a thin layer of clear coat over the pattern to prevent it smearing while I carve.

I usually carve outside, I do have a dust box and shop vac hook up to minimize dust, if I carve indoors. I also use a magnifying lens and wear a filter mask (not a dust mask). Bone dust can do damage to your lungs, plus I dont know what caused the demise of the animal, I dont want to get an infection.

I will use the smallest burr (its the name of the bits used for a dremel carving tool). I trace with the smallest burr over the drawing. Once the trace carving is completed, I will then use a larger burr to mark up the areas I intend to carve out and remove.

I start carving using increaingly larger burrs to remove material. I make sure to leave a space between my line and the edge of the carving, this allows me to use diamond grinding burrs to corner, smooth the edges and fine tune the cuts.

I only carve one side and pattern at a time. I dont do the whole thing at once because I want to see how the bone reacts to the drilling. I dont become attached to any of the drawn images, that way if I have to make changes, I do.

Bone is really sturdy, even nature clean which tends to be more fragile due to calcium depletion and mineral absorption that can cause the bone to become flakey and brittle in spots. The carving process requires patience. I move the burr slowly to prevent cutting too much, or bounce or burn out the drill. Many other bone artists use a dremel 3000 or more with a dental attachment. At the moment I dont have the money for that, so I use a dremel 200, it is big, bulky, heavy, and really challenges me to have a steady hand. I often get hand cramps after 3 or 4 hours of carving.

Once the piece is finished I sometimes add to it. In this case, I have been cutting metal, grinding it and hammering it to create a merger of bone and metal. This piece is not finished at the moment. The total hours I have worked on it, is around 30 hours so far.