Introduction: Making Snake Bone Jewelry

in this tutorial the biggest trick is just coming up with your own design, but i will show exactly how to treat the bones from a whole snake to pretty, white bones, which can be used as beads to make beautiful strange jewelry

all you will need is a shovel, plastic grocery bags, a large jar (gallon pickle jars are great), and hydrogen peroxide, if you prefer it latex gloves are a good idea too

to clean the bones completely itll cost an upwards of about 3 bucks so its a great thing to do the hardest thing to get is a snake

Step 1: The Snake

okay these guys are NOT something to F*** with they can and will kill you if not handled properly even hours after death they will still deliver a deadly bite, so im just going to say first off if you are squeamish please abandon this project you will also be scraping out innards and other gross junk

Step 2: The Head

first off you have to kill your snake pistol, rifle, rock, shovel, pointy stick, whatever just do NOT touch the head PERIOD i cant stress that enough even if its been dead for hours ive had a 3 hour old dead snake with no head guts or skin try to run away. once your snake has been killed, or found dead, use a shovel  to cut him just behind his head, then take the head somewhere to dispose of it, i bury mine but if you live in a more crowded area, do not do that pets could dig it up, bag it several times throw it away and take out the garbage.

oh and this guy was killed with a blowgun, and before i get a bunch of hate mail for "killing innocent creatures" well they're on my property and i have pets, i only kill venomous snake that could harm my animals or family 

Step 3: The Skin

your snake is now safe to handle, it will still move but the worst it can do is bleed on you if the moving is too for you, then try freezing it for a day or two then letting it thaw, itll be limp as a noodle for ya

at the neck where you chopped off the head look closely, you can see where there is the skin, and the meat. now on the backside of the snake, not the belly side, the skin is attached with a membrane hold onto the skin with one hand and hold onto the spine with another, and well start pulling, be careful to keep your hand with the skin close to the body where it is peeling off, so as not to tear the skin. this should be a lengthy process so dont think you are doing it wrong if it takes a lil while

you will have to pull the belly side too but not nearly as much, think of it like you are pulling off a sock when you get to the bottom of the snake you will get too... well its ass pull the skin over the tail and chop the body off at the end, keeping the skin in one piece, i will later post on how to preserve the hides as well, so stick em in a bag and throw them in the freezer they will last forever.

Step 4: The Guts

now come the gut, you will notice if you killed it yourself, they are still working, beating heart and fun like that, now go back to the neck, where the head was cut off, you will see a tube, its throat it looks like a smaller version of the crinkly part on a bendy straw. now be sure to have a bag under you or are outside, pinch the throat and pull, in the same manner as the skin this will go faster each organ will pull out the next, drop it in a bag and toss em in the garbage for somebody else to deal with.

Step 5: The Rest

you're now left with the empty body and the skin, freeze the skin if you like it i will also post instructions on how to preserve it

now everybody talks about eating snake, i don't think its too amazing, but you can now cook it, but if you would like the bones you will have to go without your snake meat the bones are too small and will become too brittle after cooking them

if you chose to keep the bones then congrats, you're practically done drop the snake in a pickle jar, fill that jar with about 95% water and 5% hydrogen peroxide lil more wont hurt but you get the idea dilute it a lot, it should sloooowly form a few bubbles on it already, good now put the lid on and leave it outside... for about 2-3 WEEKS... this is where the gross will start, if you cant handle smells well get a friend that you dont care to keep

Step 6: GROSS

your jar should be a milky white, too white to see what is left of the snake, now get a gallon of water and take it far away and open it up do NOT do it inside or near ur house open it and slowly pour it out, go very slow so that the bones don't pour out with it be sure to hold your breath the whole time ok? now when its out pour in water, and drain again, mostly to get rid of ummm chunks.

the main goal of this step is to rinse them off.

sorry i have no pictures for this my snake wasnt ready yet, but its a simple step

Step 7: One More Time

1. now look at the bones they will probably need a little more flesh taken off if they do then go to 2.  if they are already done then just rinse them a bunch and go to 3. 

2. if theres more flesh then that's good you want it that way, put in another peroxide bath but use about half as much peroxide, you need it to be a very slow bath so you don't make the bones brittle repeat the last bath (it wont smell as bad this time) and a third time if necessary or even fourth mine usually goes in just 2, but just make sure they have no flesh on em they will smell forever and its too unsanitary for jewelry

3. now when they are done they wont look stark white, thats just because they are wet, put them in a bowl or on paper and let them drip dry and evaporate, dont put em in the sun to dry it can be too quick and break the smaller bones.

after a few more hours or days depending on where you are, voila snake boones, later i will show techniques on making your own designs to keep forever!

please ask any questions you have and DONT TOUCH THE HEAD!

Step 8: Jewelry

this is the pricey part around 10 bucks so don't sweat it

the making of the jewelry is very easy all you need are some generic findings and other jewelry parts all of these can be bought at micheals or other craft stores there is a picture with a set of examples but they will vary depending on what kind of jewelry you want. to hold the bones together i use regular old super glue the gel kind is best but isnt needed. and the biggest secret is spray on clear acrylic also found in craft stores

lay out the bones in the pattern you want, then dab small amounts of glue on each joint be careful not to touch the nozzle to it or it will move, after each joint is glued and dried pick it up and apply glue to the back

take your piece and glue on appropriate findings, eg. earring loops, necklace findings, bracelet locks etc

after gluing your jewelry to both the bones and wire findings just spray on 2 to 3 thin coats of acrylic just like you would do with spray paint this will give it a glossy white color and strengthen it greatly, any more delicate pieces will need more acrylic

also for anybody who already makes beaded jewelry, you can use the vertebrae as beautiful white beads by just spraying them with acrylic and beading them through the spinal column

i really want to see what kind of beautiful designs anybody creates, please post pictures of all of your designs or any othe uses you find for your bones

Step 9: Contest!

also if any of you enjoyed this i am entering into the jewelry contest and please vote for me i have used 3d printers before and like to use them in my engineering classes im going to be going to college for aeronautical engineering and could really use the prize for both my jewelry and accurately modeling some of my designs just click the vote button :)

be sure to like my facebook page the more likes i get the more material i will post!

https://www.facebook.com/SnakeAccesories

Jewelry Contest

Participated in the
Jewelry Contest

Craft Contest

Participated in the
Craft Contest