Work in Progress: Papier-Mâché Whale Vertebra Part One

      Before leaving Northern California for good in September I made one last trek out to my favorite beachcombing spot near Point Reyes National Seashore to collect a few more buoys.  While rambling along the rocky coast I nearly fainted when I made one whopper of a discovery: a massive, decaying whale carcass. I had always hoped to run across a lone whale vertebra washed up on the shore and here was not just one, but indeed an entire whale's worth!

      Now, it isn't legal for an individual to possess any part of a whale, and the vertebra pictured below was way too heavy, oily, and stinky to drag back up the cliff with me anyway, so I was satisfied to take a few pictures of my find and call it a day.

      Back home, while editing the photos, I couldn't shake the desire to add that whale vertebra to my nautical collections, and I determined that I would try my best to duplicate my own (legal and less smelly!) version in papier-mâché! I guess I had papier-mâché on the brain, having recently watched a video about how one of my favorite artists, Mark Dion, and his team of sculptors recreated in papier-mâché all of the gear used in a little-known 1908 expedition to the Far East.

     Working from my photographs and using the buoys pictured above for scale (I did take those and that wicked-looking gaff hook home with me!) I drew out a full-scale template for all of the elements that I would need to build a sturdy interior structure upon which to layer the mâché. Fortunately, at the time I was working at the Oakland Museum, and was permitted to use the woodshop and some discarded wood to create parts that I would be able to take home and assemble when I was ready to start the project!

     I am now happily relocated (once again!) to Los Angeles, working for a super-creative, awe-inspiring company, and settling into my new life here; it seems the time is right for getting to work on that whale vertebra! I'm so glad I took the time to figure out all of the mechanics of the interior structure while I had access to a woodshop; all of the elements screwed together just as I had envisioned, and before long I had a rock-solid "skeleton" for my new papier-mâché project! 

     The next step will be to cover most of the structure with wire mesh to further fill out and refine the shape of the vertebra and provide a good, textured surface onto which the mâché may be applied. 

      I will post an update as soon as I start the process of applying the papier-mâché!

Birch Bark, Spruce Root, and Cedar Containers

In this follow-up to my earlier post on Birch Bark and Spruce Root harvesting, I offer three examples of containers I crafted using my newly harvested natural materials! The body of each cylindrical container is of thin birch bark, stitched together using split spruce root lashing. The bottom of each is a disk of cedar wood, though the smaller container features a cedar wood disk in the construction of the lid as well. I can't claim to have devised the idea for these myself; I was (and continue to be) inspired by Jonathan Ridgeon's excellent "Bushcraft" site, which features an easy-to-follow tutorial on birch bark containers. I deviated slightly from the tutorial in the construction of the lid, which is basically a shorter version of the body inverted, and fits onto a birch-strip "lip" set into the upper rim of the body.

Finding things and turning them into other, better things. The FinderMaker!!!

Allow me to introduce myself... Paul B.. A Creative Sort. Certified Herbalist. Artist. Crafter. Museum Preparator. Browser. Beachcomber. Antiques Aficionado. Creator of the National Museum of Hospital and Pharmaceutical History. 

I've just relocated to Providence, Rhode Island after a stint on the west coast, and have been making stuff like crazy since I've been here. I've been inspired by the rich history of New England and the abundance of interesting materials and objects I've found here so far. 

My goal is to document the things I find and walk the reader through the process of taking those things and, with a little crafty flair, turn them into even cooler things. Problem is I've already made a bunch of neat stuff which I didn't have the foresight to document, so I'll post photos of those things, and commit to doing the full documentation on all projects going forward. Enjoy! Create!