On today’s bone jewelry tutorial I am going to walk you through how I made this infinite loop pendant:
This pendant is a “twist” and represents two people’s paths. Their paths may part from time to time but always their paths meet again. This now belongs to another person in Santa Fe who wanted a necklace that represented her and her partner.
I start by roughing the shape out on a piece of antler. I then cut that out with a bandsaw:
Next, I hollow out the two center holes with some carving bits with my Dremel:
Then, I continue to work on rounding those shapes out with smaller carving bits with my Dremel:
Now I switch to my tiniest bit to get the loop to separate from itself (it is a tight loop, you might to choose a thicker piece of antler so yours can have a wider loop):
Next, I refine the shapes more using a combination of rough grit sandpaper and files:
When the shape is perfect, I start to go up in grit sizes. Grit 80 is rough where grit 2500 is smooth. I proceed from 80 to 120, then to 180… all the way up to 2500. At grit 400 is where I work with wet sand paper. With each successful graduation in grit, I make sure the previous grits scratches have been smoothed over with the current grit. I also change the sanding water with each graduation:
Last, I polish it with a very fine-grit compound. There are some commercial brands you can use, for example all of these, or you can make your own. Stay tuned for a tutorial and recipe on making your own polish.
After a successful polish, you should be able to reflect light off the jewelry. Find a good chain or cord and now you have a great piece of hand-made jewelry:
