Animal Cameos and Winged Walnut Pendant

 I have been ruminating for a long while on how to use the copious amounts of acorn "lids" I've collected. I finally came up with a few ideas. My partner in craft, Maddy Roslow, and I were talking about new projects and the idea of animal cameos came up. First were two owls and a fox. Next I think maybe I'll make a raccoon, turtle, beaver, or cat. The owl has a golden/ copper painted acorn lid. The fox has a natural clear finish. The winged walnut pendant is inspired by a mixture of Native American eagle wing stylization and Egyptian scarab. (Side note- November is Native American heritage month. Thanks for giving us Thanksgiving and sorry for stealing and ruining your land and culture.) The walnut wing pendant will be painted black. All pieces shown have yet to be painted.

 
 
 

Here are the painted pieces.

Making New Earrings

I want to share what it takes to make my bark earrings. First a visit to the forest....

This shows how red pine bark fractures in faceted segments. No trees were harmed in making these earrings. I take a sustainable amount that would soon have fallen off anyway. 

I lay them all out to find pieces with similar color, size, and shape. They are cleaned up and finished with a clear protective coat. 

In pairs with possible feather combinations.

A few finished pairs!