New Zealand Travels (March 17th, 2003) Bone Carving

"After an uneventful eveing where I playing the guitar for a bit, I woke to find myself all alone in my dormitory. I got myself up and sorted then I met with Inma who was looking for something to do while she waited for the Magic Bus to take her to Aukland. I suggested that she came along to the bone carving place opposte the ferry crossing and she agreed, bringing her friend Kate along as well. We all trooped off to the bone place and soon we were all in the process of cutting out various shapes. The recipe for bone carving is as follows:-

1) Take leg bone of a cow and scoop out the marrow
2) Boil the bone in salty water for 2 hours
3) Cut the bone into strips with a band saw
4) Flatten the edges with a grindstone
5) Use a coarse Dremmel router to carve out the basic template (Drum grinder)
6) use a fine point Dremmel router to get the detail
7) Keep working the template until it is nearly done (stay outside the lines)
8) Use the Dremmel to chamfer the edges and create 3D points from the template
9) Next, use coase sandpaper to clean up any minor blemishes. Thin strips may be needed.
10) Use wet fine sandpaper to get the final surface
11) Polish with a soft cloth and attach the string

It took me 2 and a half hours to create a bone replica of my necklace that I bouth on the West Highland Way. As I was doing it, I recalled my childhood when I would carve out bits from my model battleships using my Lego motor. I used to take great pride in creating little shapes on the ships, but it never occurred to me to consider sculpture. I wonder if I should take up bone carving as a hobby? I did enjoy doing it, even through it hurt the tendons in my hand from gripping the Dremmel so tightly. However, I now have a gift for someone really special.

The afternoon was spent in a bus on the way to Aukland and I had the chance to start learning Spanish off Inma. She's a very clever person who has done some pretty interesting things in her life. She speaks English, Spanish, Catalan and some Italian making her conversant with just about any European. She's also very good looking and a bright bubble personality. As usual, I felt a bit inadequate around her. Come to think of it, I feel generally inadequate compared to a lot of people I'm travelling with. A lot of this is due to not having travelled much myself, and not knowing a second language. So it is apparent to me that I must commit myself to travelling more and learning other languages. (My French is so awful that it can't be counted) Simply accepting myself as I am is not an option because it does not require growth or effort on my behalf - thus it is a poor path.

So we arrived in Aukland, a city like any other in the world and as such not particularly liked by me. Wellington and Christchurch seemed to have more going for them whereas Aukland is just a mess of standard shops without any real character. Dominating the skyline is the Sky Tower, which apart from the War Museum and the marina, is the only sight of interest in the city. Since it was late (and St.Patricks Day) I ended up drinking vast quantities of beer (mainly Guiness) before heading back home to my hostel."