Dear Anne,

I can provide a non-academic answer to your question, but one that comes
from many years experience.  I'm a ceremonial artist, trained in the
creation of ritual objects by a man named Wayandaga, then Chief of the
Eastern Deleware Nation (Tuscarora Iroquois traditions of making), and a
medicine man from the Guaranis tribe of the Amazon basin.

In the process of working from animal-to-shield, bone was a constant
companion.  I accidentally developed my own "beetle farm", thinking it was
quite a miraculous thing that this group of beetles worked so hard, went
dormant for ages, then awoke for the next feeding opportunity.  It was
years before I ever heard that museums used beetles for the same purpose.
I kept my colony going for some 10 years.  They were such a loyal clan, I
suppose I should have created a coat of arms for them.   :)

A few suggestions:

In my experience, bone that is kept in close proximity to tobacco remains
unaffected far longer.  I used to fill my storage bins and some public
display stands with tobacco, and would refresh the supply every year.
Whoever the microscopic entity is that turns bone to dust, he hates
tobacco.  The same is true for feathers.

Once the beetles had done their work, I always shied away from using any
chemical substance to clean bones, because their interference as seen as a
detriment to the ritual value of the object.  The idea is that 'spirit'
flows most freely through objects that have been allowed to maintain their
own 'mood'.  So, I was taught to let the bugs do as much work as they
would, then do the rest by hand.  Salt water and a sharp knife, and many
hours of patience is, I've found, the best way to clean the bones.  Sand
provides wonderful grit.  Just look at the bones washed up on the beach to
see how clean they come.

Once clean, humidity obviously plays a great role.  Too much dryness makes
bones brittle, too much humidity makes them permeable.

Finally, we ritualists agree with the purveyors of "new physics", and
strongly agree with what they've dubbed the "observer effect".  Like
ceremonial feathers, bone that is allowed to sit unattended and unnoticed
diminishes more quickly than bone that is the recipient of living
attentions.  What is not needed is forgotten, and diminishes.  What is seen
and appreciated lasts longer.  A simple but workable approach for the
person living in austere natural conditions, without benefit of controlled
environments.  When there's no thermostat, consciousness is everything.

My apologies for having offended with this non-professional advice.  Hoping
there is a grain of helpfulness in it.

regards,

Susan Eshelman







Art Vision International
"Virtual Administrators of the World's Fine Art"
http://www.aabc.com