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[athereal]

So.... this is a long shot, but I was wondering if anybody knew where one could purchase bones and quills and tusks and such. (This would be for some tribal-ish jewelry. Specifically, I was thinking of things along the lines of a boar-tusk necklace, a neat armband involving horsehair and/or porcupine quills, and maybe an anklet or two). I'd be

Comments

[travellyr]

did you try googling "tribal jewelry supply"? And a Dremmel or even a hack saw will make short work of boar tusk jaw sets (I have a friend who does fish taxidermy). I haven't looked for quills, but I have found metal cones, elk teeth (don't remember WHERE or how much, sorry- I was looking for [however you spell the french word for "metal sequin"]s at the time)... feathers, tails, hanks of wool, etc. At roadside curiosity shops I've seen entire tails, of various critters, dyed in various colors, for sale.

If you can't find horsehair (which shouldn't be TOO hard... if all else fails and you HAVE to have horsehair, I know a guy who might not mind his horses having chunks taken out of their tails) try synthetic hair extensions. They're definitely going to be finer (which may be a problem), but they come in ANY color you want.

Later, when it is not one in the morning, I will work my Google-fu for you and see what I can find. <3

[travellyr]

PS- did you want to FLATTEN the quills for quillwork? Like, using dyed quills in place of ribbon and thread for embroidery quillwork? Because in that case the American quills are easier to flatten into ribbons. You might also try searching for Reservation forums and asking if anyone has quillwork as a hobby, and where they get their quills.

If you wind up buying a boar-tusk jaw set and cutting it apart, a little paint will take care of the cut-off end, and you can sculpt it a bit with the Dremmel. If it's foam, use watered-down acrylic washes. If it's resin or plastic, model paint might work better.
If you want to know how easy the jaw-set will be to dismantle, e-mail the seller. Taxidermists make fantasy critters often enough (Jackalope, anyone?) that s/he should know.

[shadow]

When I bought cheap African porcupine quills in Africa, there were some that were sold as "cocktail sticks" or somesuch. My supply has unfortunately run out, but you might try searching for that.

[rusalka]

google gave me this, which looks pretty nifty:
http://www.nativeessence.com/cgi-local/shop.pl/page=index.htm/SID=453431318