The July full moon is known as the Buck Moon. Accordingly, we used antler bones to make adornments. Natalia was the host this month and it was her idea to make pendants and bottle openers by drilling into the antlers and fastening bottle openers or crystals into them for naturally inspired and useful items.
What you'll need:
- Antlers of varying sizes. Oftentimes you'll see fragments at yard sales or flea markets selling for cheap - they're also sometimes sold as dog chew bones.
- A power drill or a dremel tool with the drill attachment.
- Epoxy
- Gems + head pins + chain if making necklaces, or
- Part of an old bottle opener to insert in the bone, or
- A thin whittled piece of wood or chopstick if making a hair pin
- Strips of scrap leather or leather cord
- Tape
1. Gather your materials.
2. Using the drill or Dremel tool, drill into the antlers to create a sufficiently sized cavern that will fit either the crystals or the hair pin or the bottle opener attachment. If necessary, whittle down the wood to fit into the space you made in the antler.
3. Mix the epoxy and apply it to the inside of the antler. Press the item you want to nest within it and allow it to set, usually about 10 minutes.
4. Wrap the leather scrap or cord around the point where the bone and the item are attached, and affix with epoxy, using tape to keep it in place while it dries. If making the crystal pendant, skip this step.
For the crystal pendant, drill a hole across the top of the antler and insert a head pin. Affix your chain to either end of this head pin, using pliers to make loops in the wire on each end.