Gift Bones - Part 2

Much of my bone collection is found, prepped, and cleaned by myself. Some is bought, and the rest came as gifts from exceptionally understanding friends.

One of my earliest bone gifts is a painted deer hip bone from my friend Jason. I got it from him about 22 years ago. I love how it seems to double as a mask.





Earlier this year my niece, Liz, surprised me with bone gifts. Some misc animal bones, a pile of small mammal jaws retrieved from owl droppings, and a cat skull. I like to believe I've been a good influence on her...heh



The cat was sadly hit by a car. She buried it, dug it back up, and glued the broken skull back together. I don't normally bury the road kill or hunted game I find. It can stain and rot the bones at a faster pace than using a "bone box".



But I think the distorted skull, missing part of the nasal cavity, and lack of row of teeth really adds to it. Plus the way the skull is stained really brings out the teeth.



My most recent gruesome gift is thanks to Amanda. She found this unknown bird species head on top of a car. I suspect that it was eaten by a larger predator bird by the way the back of skull and neck bones are exposed. I imagine as it ate the smaller bird, the head fell from the tree above.



It could have been caused by a cat as well. But they don't normally carry a bird on top of a car to eat. Rather, they'd want it in a safe hiding place. And cats are know to eat bird and small mammal heads entirely.

Amanda came out to visit me where I was selling my photos recently, and presented me with this lovely package that looked like two blooming flowers.



Inside was this:



As a "thank you" gift I gave her one of my dead bird prints. It may have been this one:



Thanks so much to Jason, Liz and Amanda for these uncommon gifts!

Stay tuned for more in this series of "gift bones" to come.

Gift Bones - Part 1

Much of my bone collection is found, prepped, and cleaned by myself. Some is bought, and the rest came as gifts from exceptionally understanding friends.

One of the single largest bones I own is this HUGE moose antler which was a gift from my parents. Which came originally from Canada or Alaska, from a male (bull) moose. It was on my wish list of odd items so I was very excited about this surprise gift!



It measures 41 inches across the back curve. And has a pretty good weight to it. Here is a self portrait with it to give you a better idea of how large it is.



Want to see something really fantastic? Check out The New Hampshire Locked Moose Antler Project. Which involved two moose carcasses found locked in eternal combat turned into a traveling educational taxidermy exhibit. Absolutely stunning. Such a fantastic way to honor these majestic beasts.

With the birth of this blog I started to get "hey do you want a...?." questions more and more often. And of course if it is bone related, I likely welcome what you have to offer. So I started to get some pretty interesting things showing up in my mailbox.

One night while I was out at a show in Gainesville I was located by my friend Will who had some fantastic gifts for me. I love the conversation he must have had with the door guy explaining that he had "something for someone inside".

"Can I just find my friend to give her something?"

"What is it?"

Will lifting the plastic bag with protruding bones.

"A horse skull and a shark jaw."

"Uhhhh sure."



This is one of those cases where I loved the way the horse skull was weathered and won't likely be cleaning it.



I especially love the cracking of the tooth enamel.





The shark jaw is 10 inches across so it wasn't a very big one. Anyone have any idea what it is from?




Thanks so much to my parents and Will for these uncommon gifts!

Stay tuned for more in this series of "gift bones" to come.