Bone Necklace

This came about because we attended Zombicon and I had to create a costume for a friend. The theme was 1985: Nuclear Apocalypse. I decided to make him a Mad Max/Tank Girl inspired zombie hunter. While at dinner, finishing ribs, I decided what would give the costume it's finishing touch; a bone necklace!. So I saved the bones from dinner, cleaned them and made this necklace. Here's how I did it. Enjoy!

Step 1: Materials

To clean bones-

Small plastic container

Dish soap

Water

Scrubber sponge- I used Dobie style

Wire Drying rack

To make necklace-

Cleaned and dried Rib bones

Eye Screws

Existing chain necklace

Jump rings

Jewelry pliers

Step 2: Cleaning the Bones

Pre soak- Not pictured

In a small plastic container, add warm water and a small amount of dish soap. Mix well. Add bones. Allow to soak for a minimum of 4 hours. I left them overnight. When done,any excess meat and sauce should have separated for the bones.

Scrubbing

Once done soaking, remove bones from container and clean them with dish soap and a scrubber sponge to remove any excess hard to remove meat tidbits or sauce.

Let dry on wire rack. I let mine dry 8 hours.

Step 3: Preparing the Bones for Necklace

Once dry, Lay out your bones in the direction you would to place them. This will give you an idea of how it will look. I played with various layouts. You can lay them large to small or alternate them left and right for chest plate look. You can place the bone concave or convex to create a pattern. You can also place them in random order.

To make each bone a charm, screw an eye screw to the part of the bone that will be at the top. Hand screw it in to the marrow. It will hold, since it has been previously baked.

Once all the bones have eye screws, we are ready to assemble the necklace.

Step 4: Building the Necklace

Lay out your necklace chain and find the center. I found it easier to work on each side individually. It also helps with maintaining symmetry. You can also at this point , determine how you want to space your bones. All around the necklace, halfway, or at the hanging end.

Using a jump ring attach each bone to the necklace using jewelry pliers. I chose to space my bones out six links apart. You can lay your bones by the chain to give you an idea of the shape it will form. Make sure to take into account the way your eye screws, jump ring, and chain link are facing when attaching the bones. If one of them is not correct it may flip the direction the bone lays in. Once you have attached all the bones, you can wear it and adjust the bones as needed.

Step 5: Wear and Enjoy!

That's it! Have fun with your new necklace!!