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.