Andrew Barss wrote:

Just a word of warning -- cocobolo contains the same irritant as
poison ivy does, and you don't want guys from a biker bar coming after you with
swollen earlobes.

Good point. Though I've shellaced all the ones I've done so far, I
guess it
could wear off after a while. Will look into wood toxicity. thanks
for the
heads up.

I did some death heads for some local Hells Angels back when I was
doing
lost wax cast jewelry. If you think Disney and Coca Cola protect
their
copywrited stuff, the Angels make lawyers look like pussycats. A guy
who hung around the college was posing as an Angel - wore colors and
had the Angel's wing tatooed on his right shoulder blade - apparently
part of the initiation ritual. The Angels rectified the copywrite
infringement by a) taking back all is Angels paraphanalia AND
b)removing
the tatoo via abrassion - on a cinder block wall. There were also
some "punative damages".

Deals were made with a handshake and they paid cash on receipt.
Never had a problem with any of them. Took a while to get to
know a few. One, "Nasty", carried a loaded 44 in the back of his
waste band. His favorite drink - pink lemonade, favorite song -
Paul Simon's "My Momma Loves Me".

Got to know two more - actual brothers. One was a marble
sculptor who had studied Michaelangelo and some of his copies
were truly amazing. The other brother was a pen and ink and
engraving artist who also was very very good.

That Book By Its Cover thing seems to be true - as is the
Do Unto Others thing. Pity that we seem to be forgetting
the latter more and more these days.

charlie b

ps - anyone have a set of plans for Nose Bones?