An Experiment in Elk Horn

[Bill Cunningham]

I had a customer in British Columbia send me two crowns that he sawed off a couple of Elk Horn sheds about (3.5" in dia.) that he wanted a photo etched onto so he could make them into belt buckles.. The 'shed' horns have a natural ball shape in the middle, and I was afraid I might lose too much focus to do a good photo.. I was wrong.. These things etch GREAT, and what you see is the natural colour.. The darker one was done at 25% speed, 100% power and 600 dpi, the other was done at 35% speed.. I think the faster one (lighter) looks better.. The main problem in set up, is trying to get a accurate center for the circle.. These were just experiments, this fellow says he has more stuff to do.. The photo is Cathedral Mountain in the Rockies, and was processed in Photograv using the 'cherry' setting.. So, you folks in the mountains that have access to Elk sheds, you can make some pretty nice buckles and stuff.. I would assume Moose sheds would react the same way. Deer sheds may be too small for mens buckles, but for a womans buckle they may be perfect..

[Bruce Volden]

Oh, and it smells nice too :D !!!! Turned out GREAT!

Bruce

[Lisa Matthews]

Bill, these are beautiful! I can see lots of applications for this idea. I have plans of trying a "scrimshaw" effect on horn/antlers, but hadn't though of "slicing" them. This board is a wealth of information....and the ideas I keep getting are worth their weight in gold! Hope to post some of my own stuff soon!

Lisa

[Bill Cunningham]

Technically, I guess they are Elk 'Antlers' not 'Horn' (horns are permanent, antlers fall off) I had no idea what colour they were going to turn when the beam hit them, or how well the photo would turn out.. Needless to say I'm very pleased, and I hope my customer is as well when he gets them.. I'm not sure of the law in my province (Ontario) on selling 'sheds'. Wild Elk are not common, and protected, the sheds would be pretty rare.. I'll have to check into the legality of moose sheds.. As for the smell? It was pretty well the same smell as leather..

[Chuck Mitchell]

Bill, That looks great....NICE WORK!!!