What creative things do you do with bones?

We make all kinds of art with bones

As far as how to process the bones for crafting... here is one easy way if you have a lot of ant mounds. Chain the bone to a heavy brick or cement block. This prevents the bone from being dragged off by a predator.  Then stick the bone in the ant mound.  Make sure to jam it in as deep as possible.  Be careful on this step because it really ticks off the ants.  I said chain the bone to the brick because if you use a rope especially a rope made from natural materials the ants will eat the rope. Use chain and all the ants will strip from the bone is meat and gristle

I have tons of these, I haven't figured out what to do with them yet, though.

They are nutritious, but like others, I'm worried about the smell and attracting critters. I throw them in my biochar.  It's a great solution for me.

John S
PDX OR

I make naalbinding needles.

I recently purchased an old amish farm. He processed animals.  I found a HUGE pile of bones, at least 10 cow skulls, deer skulls, other bones, I dont know what to do with it all.

Connie, If you don't mind handling them a regular cow skull can bring in a 100.00 bill. Look on Etsy. A friend burns lasers designs on them and sells them for as much as 500.00 depending on design complexity.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/769499441/real-steer-skull-head-one-only-cow-horns?ls=s&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cow+skull&ref=sr_gallery-1-9&sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=search&frs=1&sts=1&content_source=ccf48ab3-934b-49e9-aca9-c6dea43d2537%253ALT6d0a4029987f0cee6d4e8672a87da5176db79220&organic_search_click=1&logging_key=ccf48ab3-934b-49e9-aca9-c6dea43d2537%3ALT6d0a4029987f0cee6d4e8672a87da5176db79220

Buttons and windchimes already mentioned.  For soil amendments, I let the dogs chew them up.  They put out pure “bone meal” poop….

I sometimes put freshly dead carcasses in the compost.  Or I put the bones about 3-4 feet down and bury them.

If I get some nasty disgusting ones, I am going to put them down in the prairie dog holes, in hopes they will be disgusted, and prefer other places.🙏🤣

James Bridger wrote:I have tons of these, I haven't figured out what to do with them yet, though.

Interesting shape and curve, might be a lampshade?

I come across some bones too, and I wish I could make use of them... in my garden.
Whenever we eat meat, there's cooked bones attached to them, and we repurpose the carcass by giving it to our chickens.
Once they and some ants and the sun have had their fun with then, the chicken yard is littered with bones.
Does anyone know an easy way to bust them up and turn them into powder to use on potatoes and other tubers that like bonemeal?

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:Does anyone know an easy way to bust them up and turn them into powder to use on potatoes and other tubers that like bonemeal?

Boiling the bones or pressure cooking them will soften the bones.

I found this out by making lots of bone broth.

Anne Miller wrote:

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:Does anyone know an easy way to bust them up and turn them into powder to use on potatoes and other tubers that like bonemeal?

Boiling the bones or pressure cooking them will soften the bones.
I found this out by making lots of bone broth.

Thanks, Ann. While I already have a lot of bone broth, I wanted to use the bones in my garden as an amendment. I figure on picking the chicken-cleaned, ant-cleaned, sun-bleached bones from their paddock and pressure cook them, then pound them to a pulp and air-dry them.
Thanks again for the tip!

Made this knife last year, but the pine tar didn't end up cementing it in the handle first try. Even so, not sure the blade could take much beyond some cheese slicing. I like the idea above of finding some D&D folx that might want it for a costume...