Ah, Soothing Bones.
I just called The Bone Room to order my niece's Christmas present (I have a very cool niece). They are so nice there.
The lady asked if I had any special requirements, and I said something like "The cranium itself must be intact and free of any cracks or fissures, and I need the canines and incisors in good shape. I'm negotiable on premolar and molar loss, especially if it was premortem. I don't care if the teeth are loose. I do specifically need the lower mandible from the same critter."
She paused and said "Wow, it's really nice to deal with someone who's knowledgeable. So, ah, we get a lot of these, but they aren't in front of me, so if it comes down to a choice between a perfect skull that's a little dark or greasy and one that's not as perfect but is very white, do you have a preference?"
"I can degrease and whiten to my own standards if I need to, so go with sturdy over white."
"I'll have that right out to you!"
You know, it never occurred to me that anyone calling for such a thing would not have their ducks in a neat little row. In retrospect, that was a pretty dumb assumption. Not everyone who wants a thing knows much about the thing (and hey, to a certain extent, that's perfectly fine; we all start somewhere). I do feel really good that I was able to make her job super-easy, though. The whole conversation took two minutes. I love it when things go smoothly.
I haven't actually ordered from them before, though the good things I have heard don't leave me with much worry over what I'll get. I do look forward to seeing if their quality is as good as Skulls Unlimited's; their prices on this particular item were much more competitive, even though I have loyalty to SU because they're local to me and all.
I am stressed about things, still, so I have decided that I will do what always relaxes me. I'm going to play with bones.
Having done one coyote and two dog skulls, I think I'm ready to work on something bigger. After posting pics of Diana last night, I decided I really do need to get going and engrave one of the wolf skulls. I will sit down with them later and choose. Not Thane and not Grond -- either not yet or not ever. Grendel is crooked, so I may leave him as more of a study specimen. I don't want to work on Arya or the other youngish one because I don't feel like working on young bone right now. It has a different texture. I want hard, clean bone, which leaves either "Handsome," whom you haven't seen pictures of yet, or Diana.
Handsome is flawless in just about every way. He's big, old enough not to have as much porous bone around his teeth, and just all-around good-looking. He doesn't have as much gravitas as the others, though.
Diana is beautiful and perfect for carving, but her nose injury gives me pause. I normally work right down to the ends of the nasals, and I couldn't do that here. I would have to work around it. Then again, maybe a nice little challenge is what I need.
It's a little frustrating. I have quite a few painted or carved skulls -- seven at last count -- but I'm loath to let them go. I love them so much, and attaching a price to that feels very strange. I'm not sure what I should charge. I mean, I have to cover parts and labor, sure, but how do you translate spiritual weight into a price tag? I realize that religious institutions have been doing this throughout history, but I'm a little uncomfortable with it. I wouldn't let a cat or dog go to a home where I thought they would not be taken care of just because a person was paying me. I feel the same about this, especially with the wolves, yet it feels unfair to screen customers for suitability. It's either a financial transaction for a physical object or it's not. You know?
Treating them like inanimate things seems odd and wrong to me. They aren't alive as such, but they aren't dead, either. There's something there. I'm keenly aware of that, and as weird as this may sound coming from an avowed atheist, I want to make sure that whoever winds up with them knows that, too.
The lady asked if I had any special requirements, and I said something like "The cranium itself must be intact and free of any cracks or fissures, and I need the canines and incisors in good shape. I'm negotiable on premolar and molar loss, especially if it was premortem. I don't care if the teeth are loose. I do specifically need the lower mandible from the same critter."
She paused and said "Wow, it's really nice to deal with someone who's knowledgeable. So, ah, we get a lot of these, but they aren't in front of me, so if it comes down to a choice between a perfect skull that's a little dark or greasy and one that's not as perfect but is very white, do you have a preference?"
"I can degrease and whiten to my own standards if I need to, so go with sturdy over white."
"I'll have that right out to you!"
You know, it never occurred to me that anyone calling for such a thing would not have their ducks in a neat little row. In retrospect, that was a pretty dumb assumption. Not everyone who wants a thing knows much about the thing (and hey, to a certain extent, that's perfectly fine; we all start somewhere). I do feel really good that I was able to make her job super-easy, though. The whole conversation took two minutes. I love it when things go smoothly.
I haven't actually ordered from them before, though the good things I have heard don't leave me with much worry over what I'll get. I do look forward to seeing if their quality is as good as Skulls Unlimited's; their prices on this particular item were much more competitive, even though I have loyalty to SU because they're local to me and all.
I am stressed about things, still, so I have decided that I will do what always relaxes me. I'm going to play with bones.
Having done one coyote and two dog skulls, I think I'm ready to work on something bigger. After posting pics of Diana last night, I decided I really do need to get going and engrave one of the wolf skulls. I will sit down with them later and choose. Not Thane and not Grond -- either not yet or not ever. Grendel is crooked, so I may leave him as more of a study specimen. I don't want to work on Arya or the other youngish one because I don't feel like working on young bone right now. It has a different texture. I want hard, clean bone, which leaves either "Handsome," whom you haven't seen pictures of yet, or Diana.
Handsome is flawless in just about every way. He's big, old enough not to have as much porous bone around his teeth, and just all-around good-looking. He doesn't have as much gravitas as the others, though.
Diana is beautiful and perfect for carving, but her nose injury gives me pause. I normally work right down to the ends of the nasals, and I couldn't do that here. I would have to work around it. Then again, maybe a nice little challenge is what I need.
It's a little frustrating. I have quite a few painted or carved skulls -- seven at last count -- but I'm loath to let them go. I love them so much, and attaching a price to that feels very strange. I'm not sure what I should charge. I mean, I have to cover parts and labor, sure, but how do you translate spiritual weight into a price tag? I realize that religious institutions have been doing this throughout history, but I'm a little uncomfortable with it. I wouldn't let a cat or dog go to a home where I thought they would not be taken care of just because a person was paying me. I feel the same about this, especially with the wolves, yet it feels unfair to screen customers for suitability. It's either a financial transaction for a physical object or it's not. You know?
Treating them like inanimate things seems odd and wrong to me. They aren't alive as such, but they aren't dead, either. There's something there. I'm keenly aware of that, and as weird as this may sound coming from an avowed atheist, I want to make sure that whoever winds up with them knows that, too.