Bone Couture – Behind the scenes

I am launching a new collection and thought I would share the process that went into making it:

This range started over a year ago when I found a fresh Bokmakierie carcass on the side of the road in Namaquland. With my friend, who is an amateur taxidermist, we skinned it, saved its wings and feet and lopped off it’s head. We then found some styrofoam and spread out it’s wings and feet in positions we liked, sprinkled it with borax (to dry out the flesh) and sealed the head in a bag to dump in acid later.

I then decided I wanted to broaden the range and incorporate other animals. I thought it would be awesome to create and articulated vertebrae necklace and went on the hunt for a snake. It took some time to locate someone who was willing to help me out and eventually the Snake Park in Kommetjie agreed to give me two dead snakes (both having died of natural causes). I then headed over to my friend’s house to skin and de-bone the snakes. The rest of the meat was then taken off by leaving them in acid for a couple of weeks. 

Once I had all my bits I took them to my caster who then made molds of them. He injected the silicone molds with wax and gave them back to me to then work further to create other designs. Once I was happy with them, I took them back to my caster and he cast them into either silver or brass depending on my needs. 

Tomorrow, the collection is officially launched to the public, so keep an eye out on Facebook or Twitter to make sure you catch it.