So the other day we were trying to figure out a cost effective way to obtain some bone or antler for a bone needle for this project. Apparantly, antler is quite expensive around here, so it was decided to try for some bone instead. In the spirit of experimental archaeological research, my boyfriend so kindly obtained and consumed a T-bone steak so I could use the bone for the needle. What a guy!
So after many hours of boiling and scraping and sawing, then boiling and scraping some more, I would up with a workable piece of bone.
It was next to impossible to get that dark marrow out...and I'm extremely impatient sometimes, but I did my best to clean it and saw it down to size. AND...I have all my fingers still!
I don't really have good tools for this kind of thing. I only used a regular saw, the dull pocket knife you see in the pictures and a power drill for the yarn hole....oh and some sandpaper to file it down.
So, after many hours of cleaning and scraping, followed by an hour or so of sawing, shaping and filing, this is what I came up with. My thumb was pretty sore and I nicked it a bit with the saw (just a little....barley any blood...).
It is shorter and broader than my chopstick needle. I tried it out, and I think I still prefer the wood one. I think my bone needle is a bit too short to be effective for nalbinding...but hey, at least I tried!
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