sorry these harpoon head earrings are a bit out of focus. it is really hard to get really close in little light without a macro lens! anyway, thar they be.
these little inukshuk earrings are carved from ivory of some sort. now, before you get all "IVORY!" on me, let me remind you that there are more kinds of ivory than just elephant. this particular ivory comes from either walrus or narwhal, which are legally hunted and every bit of which is used. every bit. it's astonishing. remember my ingestion of seal trachea? see? besides which, they could also be bone or antler. not antler though, I think. antler is very porous.
these are some scale replicas of the steel ulus used all over the north. they litter the landscape up here. ulus, not earrings. wingman actually found a perfectly good one just lying out on the tundra, so he brought it home, sharpened it, oiled it, and promptly hung it on the wall. me, I would have used it, but we are different, me and wingman.
anyway, you can notice the copper spine holding the blade to the bone handle. very swank and also a good replica.
these earrings were a special request from me to the carver. they are made of baleen, which is dried from the mouth of the bowhead whale. remember bowheads sort of glean the water, sucking it in and pushing it out past this stuff which is sort of like the raspy side of velcro. I think. I might be screwing up some details here. anyway, they dry it and polish it up real good, and then they carve it into beautiful earrings (for example). so my request was for something a little bit abstract. I get tired sometimes of wearing cultural icons on my ears.
the last earrings i have to show you are the ones my student gave to me the other night. bone, with some kind of stone trim. I have no idea how they made these ones! anyway, they are beautiful, and one of my favourite pieces ever. partly because of where they came from, but partly because they are just really well made.
I can already hear the protests of "but the ulus look different!" yes, it is true. there are two styles of ulu. they are both legit. they both cut things. could be one area uses one style more than another. who knows? anyway, i like them.
TOMORROW: Rings and Pendants.
2 comments:
These are amazing! So good.
Down here, winter is coming fast. It's been gray and rainy, everyone is wearing poppies. The Santa Claus parade is in 10 days. (!)
My friend Becca, who you may have met at our party, just had her baby, a month early. They're both fine; baby girl was 5 pounds some ounces, and Becca still said she has new insight into why people think Caesarians are a good idea.
It's "National Novel Writing Month"; maybe you could write a novel before coming home? ;) see here for more info
dang, I thought Novel Writing Month was in October - I already wrote one!!
;) hahaha
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