Post #488561 by AlohaStation on Fri, Oct 16, 2009 12:17 PM

BigT - The first photo was done quickly with crappy light. I'll describe my patina below.

Laojia - The patina was a combination of several attempts. I did not want to stain the entire piece because the white of the ivory is so beautiful. I tried using paint but it would come off when I buffed it. So I did some investigation and found something about "red lacquer" used on ivory. No detailed info so I tried using my own concoction. Acrylic paint mixed in lacquer. It brushes on smoothly and wipes off easily while still wet. You have to move quickly because the lacquer dries very fast. Once dry I buffed the entire piece till smooth.

Benz - I like the ivory better than bone because it is a little harder and allowed me to make some mistakes without being too obvious. It was a little uncomfortable doing the fine detail with my rotary handpeice. It wasn't made for what I was trying to do. I can see some of the awkward spots but no one else will. While carving the mouth I ran into some inconsistent spots that caused me to over-carve. I also don't have a great selection of bits for the fine detail. All in all, not bad for my second bone carve. My flexshaft blew out - so I'm waiting on some parts till I can dive into the bone and shell again.