#bone carving

Two pieces were broken.

I've repaired piece no 1:

Now onto piece no. 2:

Medium is bone and copper. It's a slightly difficulty dangerous substance to work with but so worth the effort. It fits the vibes of the soap stone to a perfect tee.

Mammoth Shaped Spear Thrower, 16,000 to 13,500 Years Old, 'Ice Age Art Now' Exhibition, Cliffe Castle, Keighley, Yorkshire

The value of a good spear thrower shows in this fragment which was repaired to keep it functioning. The mammoth's tail, later restored with a bone insert, originally curled over to form the hook. When the handle broke it could not be mended again.

The mammoth is sculpted for effect rather than realism. The holes that look like eyes are too large and incorrectly positioned. They once contained inserts creating an awesome appearance. The small ears are right, and the tusks are on the sides of the broken shaft. The legs pirouette unnaturally but the broad, snowshoe feet are realistic.

'Young Reindeer With Its Mother' Bone Carving, 'Ice Age Art Now' Exhibition, Cliffe Castle, Keighley, Yorkshire

Around 15,000 years ago, as winter turned to spring, feelings of hope perhaps inspired this superb, engraved drawing of a reindeer calf alongside its mother on bone.