My strange and wonderful daughter has an obsession with bones since she was three years old. She even asked me if she could have my bones when I die. I said yes, but since we aren’t at that point yet, right now we are gathering all sorts of animal bones and cleaning them. 🙂
The Ultimate Guide on How to Clean Animal Bones for Display (Step by Step with Pictures) Read More »
How Dermestes Beetles Revolutionise Specimen Preparation How a chance encounter with museum beetles transformed one collector’s approach to osteological preparation and revealed nature’s most precise cleaning specialists When Jack Williams first heard about using live beetles to clean animal bones, his reaction was typical of most people encountering the concept for the first time. “I
From Roadkill to Remarkable: The Origins of a Curious Craft For Jack Williams, founder of Dem Bones, what began as a teenage curiosity has transformed into a full-time craft that merges science, art, and ethics. “I was always the weird kid who’d stop and look at roadkill,” he laughs. “But instead of just being grossed
I Clean Skulls for a Living: Inside the World of Bone Art Read More »
When most twelve-year-olds stumble upon a skeleton in the wilderness, their first instinct is to run. But not Dianne. “I found an animal skull on a walk and was immediately fascinated,” she says. “There was something beautiful about it—delicate, structured, almost sculptural. I brought it home, cleaned it the best I could, and displayed it
Sealing and Finishing Bones for Long-Term Display So, you’ve cleaned the bones. Degreased them. Whitened them. And now you’re wondering—how do you seal and finish bones so they stay looking great for years? Let’s walk through everything you need to know about sealing and finishing bones for long-term display. Whether you a creating a display
I’ve written about how to clean and whiten animal bones before on my website. However, skulls from horned animals like deer, moose, caribou, and elk require a slightly different approach which I will go over here. Want to become a bone cleaning expert? Check out my eBook. It’s got lots of tips and tricks about how
How to Clean Antlers: The Complete Guide Read More »
Bone Cleaning Product Recommendations Ready to get started? Here is where you can buy supplies you’ll need for cleaning animal bones. For Whitening Bones: For Removing Tissue from Bones: For Degreasing Bones: Other Supplies:
Bone Cleaning Product Recommendations Read More »
Degreasing is one of the most confusing and frustrating steps in cleaning and whitening animal bones. It isn’t always necessary but, if the bones are yellow, shiny, and stink, then you probably need to degrease them.
How to Degrease Bones Read More »
Do you want to start collecting animal bones? One of the first things you will read is that you should never use bleach to whiten bones. Bleach will damage the bones. Instead, you should use hydrogen peroxide.
Why You Shouldn’t Bleach Bones to Whiten Them Read More »
Want to start collecting animal bones? Roadkill can be a great place to find bones for our collection. However, you can’t just grab dead animals off the side of the road. Here’s what you need to know to collect roadkill safely and legally, including what to put in your “roadkill kit.”
How to (Safely and Legally) Collect Roadkill for Bone Collecting Read More »
Want to clean and whiten bones or a skull? The first step is to get the soft tissue off the bone.
How to Clean Tissue Off of Bones before Whitening Read More »
