These are some tree pendants I've made.  The garnet and tourmaline piece is a custom piece which includes coyote bone and chicken bone.  I thought it came out very nicely though, so I thought I'd include it.  A lot of these pieces are going to Funky Finds.

Here are some new elk tine pendants - they are going to a Renaissance festival this weekend, but I think they came out neat.

Here are some recent pieces I did with antique lion claws, bear claws, elk ivories, coyote teeth, and buffalo teeth.  Usually when I post pictures of these kinds of pieces someone gets offended and messages me about how awful I am for using animal parts, so I've just included my FAQ about where my animal parts come from prior to the pictures.

Generally anyone who asks this question is surprised to find out that I am a vegan and quite concerned about animal welfare.  My animal parts come from one of four places.  I am listing the sources here in order of my preference:

1) Natural deaths - I live in a large metro area.  Unfortunately wildlife dies pretty regularly in my general area.  I feel that by collecting road killed animals and animals killed naturally (such as birds killed by cats) I am giving the animal a second life.  When I finish a new bone piece I often say 'Well this is better than rotting on the side of the road isn't it?'

Often times I find bugs and butterflies that I use in my pieces, but they also have very short lives.  I check into the butterfly farms I buy from to ensure that they let their butterflies live their short little lives out before collecting them.

2) Antiques - Once something is dead I can't bring it back to life, so I think that it is honoring to give it a second kind of new life.  I've gotten many of my claws and teeth from people who have passed away or are selling their collections for other reasons.  I am careful when I buy these types of pieces to ensure that they will not be replaces.  My lion's claws, lion skull, and alligator teeth, for example, came from very old collections.

3) Scraps/Bycatch - Fur and leather are used for all sorts of products and if I were an animal I would not want one scrap of my body to be wasted.  My fur and leather pieces are scraps that I buy from other artists to ensure that every part of the animal is used.

My buffalo teeth and bear claws are from animals harvested by a Cherokee hunter who also uses every part of the animal and makes a little money selling the claws and teeth.

4) Hunting - I do European skull mounts for a very few hunters that hunt for meat.  I interview them like I was interviewing them for a job because I strongly dislike trophy hunting.  When you think about hunting, think about the difference between the life of a hunted animal versus an animal that lives on a factory farm.  It is pretty clear to me which is more humane.

Here is the first of my custom cremation memorial pendants.  This one is made of the birthstones of the client's mother, her own birthstones, and her children's birthstones, so it represents her mother's life and then two other generations.  Since it will hold her mother's ashes she asked that I make it on her mother's birthday.

I've been making trees in pairs lately - it is interesting to me to see how various combinations of stones translate from big trees to little trees or vice versa.

I've been trying to make more spring items for Funky Finds but seeing as how we had an ice storm last night my mind was elsewhere.

This is the last of the cremation memorial tree prototypes - this is my favorite I think . . .  I also made a pendant with the same colors for fun . . .

Here is the second and third prototype for the cremation memorials.  In the real world each tree would either have the hanging bottle or the bottle in the roots, but I decided to make this tree do double duty.

At the cat show this last weekend I was talking to a woman who had recently had to have an elderly cat put down.  She was talking about how she would have liked to have kept a claw sheath or tooth to have me make something with.  Then we both realized she would be getting the ashes back and I could make something for her with those.  So here are the first two prototypes of cremation pendants.  I'll also be making full size trees with cremation ashes soon.

I created a new style of tree last night.  It actually came from a discussion with someone about making a tree out of her family's birthstones.  That would involve gradating the tree rather than making it look natural (and random).  I love the grey scale myself, but I think it would work well with colors too.

Here is my latest tree.  The idea was to create something that sort of showed spring coming out of winter.   I'm not sure I achieved that but the tree is pretty!

Here is a custom piece I did for a wedding.  The bride and groom are Pagans and like Ganesha a lot.  Half the tree is gold and half is silver to symbolize their new life together.  One third of the branches are gold and aventurine, one third are silver and moonstone, and then one third are blended.  That symbolizes starting a new life but not losing individuality.

Here is a bracelet I made last night.  It is an old cab that is not very well cut (I didn't cut it - someone just wanted it set), but I think the wrap came out nice . . .

Here is my wedding cake tree doing its thing . . .

Here is the canned blog post about Funky Finds - my input is that HSNT is a great shelter that does a lot for animals in Tarrant County - so come to support them (and buy my stuff) . . .

On March 7 & 8, I will be participating in the 7th Annual Funky Finds Spring Fling! The event is free to the public and is family AND pet-friendly. With over 100 Artists, Crafters, Designers, Authors & Food Makers participating, there is certainly something for everyone!

WHAT: 7th Annual Funky Finds Spring Fling 2015
A HANDMADE SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA! Free Admission * Family And Pet-Friendly * Charitable Raffle benefiting The Humane Society of North Texas & CASA of Tarrant County * Swag Bags * Much More!

WHEN: Saturday, March 7, 10am-5pm and Sunday, March 8, 11am-4pm

WHERE: Will Rogers Memorial Center, Small Exhibits Bldg., 3409 Burnett-Tandy Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76107 (Directions)

The event will feature swag bags for the first 75 attendees each day to purchase a minimum of ten $1.00 raffle tickets. Raffle features items donated by all participating artisans & sponsors, and all raffle proceeds will benefit CASA of Tarrant County, as well as the The Humane Society of North Texas who will be on-hand facilitating pet adoptions all weekend. I look forward to seeing you there!