Animal Material Processes

Ivory

The tools used by ivory carvers include saws, engravers and chisels. The techniques of carving and decoration are based on traditions passed down from generation to generation. A very difficult craft to learn, ivory carving requires many years of training under a master teacher.

The method of ivory carving is similar to wood carving. The design is first drawn, carefully and extremely neatly, on the ivory surface. Using a selection of small blades and chisels the design is pricked and grooved out very slowly to ensure the ivory does not crack. Like wood, ivory has a grain which shows the craftsman the best way to carve the piece.

 

 

Special ink-like material called lac is sometimes used to add colour to the grooves in the ivory carving. Lac is made from the sap of plants, resins, and mineral dyes, which are mixed to make simple colours like red, yellow, and black. When finished the carving is polished and smoothed until very shiny.

Coral

After drying and cleaning the coral’s horny soft skeleton is cut and moulded using very sharp wires, scalpels and files. It is then added to designs, using glues or clamps. This type of decoration was very popular in Italy 300 years ago. Today, like ivory, the use of coral is very restricted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother-of-Pearl

Several stages are necessary to change a shell into flat pieces of mother-of-pearl. Firstly the artist marks the shell (on the inside) into several sections which are then sawn into individual pieces that are lined with mother-of-pearl on one side and with the shell exterior on the other. The rough outer surface is then ground down using a stone grinder or file, to reveal the mother-of-pearl underneath.

The mother-of-pearl is then cut into small sections called threads and spot-glued into position. This technique was used by European and Japanese artists.

Tortoiseshell

 

Traditional tortoiseshell decoration is created from the outer plates or scutes of the giant sea turtle, which are made from a hard material called keratin. A tortoiseshell can be left in one piece to make bowls or sawn into sections and used as decoration. The finished artwork can be protected with a layer of lacquer or varnish.

 

 

 

 

Skin

Leather is animal hide which has been treated with special chemicals to bring out the natural beauty. This process is called tanning. Hide which has been tanned is strong, flexible and long lasting. Modern leather is usually made from cattle hides but horse, pig, goat, calf, lamb, deer, kangaroo, reptile, seal, and walrus skin can all be used. In the past rhino, elephant and even big cat hides were made into clothes, carpets and artworks.

Before being tanned skins need to be cured. This leads to the remaining flesh and skin being removed.

There are two types of modern tanning technique mineral and vegetable.

Vegetable tanning uses tannin (from which tanning gets it name) a yellowish material found in tree bark. Hides are stretched on frames and immersed for several weeks in vats of tannin. Vegetable tanned hide is very flexible.

Mineral tanning uses a chemical called chromium. Hundreds of years ago the process of tanning was so smelly that it was always practiced away from the city or town. They did not use tannin very often or chromium; instead they used animal dung and human urine amongst other things!!!

Cured animal hide can also be used to paint on. Young goat or lamb skin is stretched and dried to create vellum an old French word meaning 'calfskin'.