Thursday, May 17, 2012

Faux Bone


I've been seeing this faux bone material popping up all over the place lately, so I decided I had to give it a try.  It's a pvc-type material sold by jewelry artist Robert Dancik. It comes in sheets of varying thicknesses, as well as blanks for rings and bracelets and other shapes.  It's easy to cut with a jeweler's saw and can be carved, filed, and sanded into pretty much any shape and colored with various inks and paints.  I found it a little difficult to work with at first because I am used to working with harder materials.  Sawing and filing left a pretty significant bur on the edges which had to be sanded away.  Later I discovered that I should have gotten a deburring tool (like the type used for pvc pipe) to slice away the schniblets left by cutting.  Makes sense, right?  Anyway the material seems very durable and I was able to set a tube rivet into it with no problems.  It's very lightweight so I think it would be great for making large earrings.  I really like the pendant I made, and I have a lot of material left so I'll be making some more faux bone jewelry soon.  In the meantime I'm off to the hardware store to get that deburring tool. 

1 comment:

littlecherryhill said...

Great Pendant! You've just reignite my interest in trying this material out :) I saw it a while back (over here in Australia) and wasn't sure I should bother. But looks like it's great stuff!