I’ve always had a fascination with bones, and their crucial role in every living thing. Yet when one looks at a bone, or holds it, it is such a weightless, tactile, trivial looking thing at first glance. One must go close up, get quite intimate, to be able to see the beauty of the lacy complexity.

I feel bones have a kind of gravitas about them. Yes they will decompose, but many moons after the rest of the body – any body – has ceased to exist. They have an agelessness about them. The first jewellery was made from bones, seashells, wood – the ubiquitous substances seen to have the potential for beauty. And the knowledge that the substance-made-object was once part of a larger, living whole gives any piece a value that man-made substances cannot hope to match.

These bones are from a Chinese starter about five years ago – I cleaned the bones of meat then washed them in a mixture of water, dishwashing soap and bleach. Then they were dried out and packed away, under the label of ‘being useful one day’.

In a post-apocalyptic situation, bones are probably one thing guaranteed not to run out. Yes there would likely be plastic everywhere, but it would be as unvalued as it is now. Bones like this are also portable and lightweight, so could be worked on anywhere.  Post-apocalyptic bone jewellery would also tap into the lineage of leaders and healers, a totem of authority and wisdom.  

I worked only with a simple steel blade – a cheap boxcutter – and a winkle picker (I obtained several vintage winkle pickers years ago, and they’ve proved to be an extremely versatile tool) as I wanted the result to be as authentic as possible. Thinking of a Healer as a crucial personage of any group, I made a bone blade, a hollow claw notched on a curve (removing detritus from wounds) and two measures (1ml and 2.5ml). The central piece is a simple spiral. The spiral is a cross-cultural symbol of spirituality and the natural world, as well as womanhood. So this necklace would be worn by a female healer of some importance. The number five is also of significance, as it

The bone tools were fixed with thin copper wire, and attached to a curved twig. The twig was looped with soft leather cord. The resulting curve of the piece is reminiscent of a torque, a style of neck decoration reserved for royalty or people of import.

(One of the things that surprised me was that the marrow of the bones – five years old – was still considered desirable by my cats! I had to be careful not to lose bones as if I turned around a paw would stretch towards the worktable. I collected the marrow as I wanted to make glue with it – unfortunately that didn’t work, the substance proved quite explosive and sandy. Not enough collagen, I think.)