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So Ya Wanna is a sister thread for "Stupid Question, but I'm going to ask anyway."

It's goal is to produce a place for people to ask questions about how to accomplish things.

Wanna know how to find a coven, kindred or other group? Ask.
Wanna know how to make a ritual dagger or decorate your new drinking horn? Ask.
Wanna know how to build a card house? Well... best to look that up somewhere else. I used super glue when I made mine.

But you get the idea.

Reserved

What kinds of things?

So Ya Wanna...


First, decide if you want the "duster" to be round or flat in shape.
If round, simply fan the feathers out slightly, and wrap tightly around the base using sinew, waxed cord, leather or other material.

Using beads you can decorate with colors or semi-precious stones that are used for purification within your tradition.

If flat, you'll need to make a frame. Taking a stick about the diameter of your thumb from a wood you associate with purification, saw off the ends so the stick is a length that feels natural in your hand.

Then slit the wood at one end about an inch deep. You can do this by either using a hand drill to make a "stop" hole or you can gently split it by using a blade and a weight, such as a hammer, to carefully tap it in.

Please take all safety measures required to protect your hands and eyes etc.

Once the slit is made, work the feathers in so they form a fan. You can secure them with glue or bind them tightly in place with a cord of some fashion. Again, decorate with beads or other things that speak of purification. Perhaps using a small vial you could even include some sacred water. Using a pyrography pen, you could inscribe the handle with symbols- thus including the four classic elements.

So Ya Wanna...



Most horns you buy commercially are usually pre-cleaned. The soft gelatinous tissue that is part of the living horn has already been removed. If you're harvesting fresh horn, you'll need to remove this first. Scraping it out with metal spoons will provide the different sizes as well as the control needed to get it out. Make sure it is smooth and dry before you move on to the next stages.

The next step is the trimming and polishing.

If you don't already have a dremel tool (which is so useful for so many projects! ) pick one up. They tend to run about $10 for the basic ones, and up to a hundred and fifty for the fancy ones. Mine was about $15 on sale.

Use a cutting tool to trim the end so it's smooth. You can also use a small hand saw to do this.

Be warned: The heat from the tool will burn the horn and it will stink. Doing this outside is a good idea.

Once the edge has been trimmed, you can switch out the head on the tool for a sanding head. Again, it's going to smell bad. You could always do this by hand, but expect the start to finish time to go from a few hours to a month.

After it has been sanded, reduce the grit size and keep going until the horn itself is smooth. A final buffing will give it a lovely shine.

You now have three options to decorate the horn with. You can call it good at this point and move on to finishing the inside, you can paint it or you can burn it.

Using a pyrography pen, you can etch designs you have sketched with a pencil onto the horn. If you want to paint it, you can use basic acrylic paints and plan to seal the paint with a varnish. You can also sew and glue bands upon it- furs and the like make for lovely decorations.

Once the outside is to your liking, you'll be looking to finish the inside. Bee's Wax is traditional. It's a simple matter of melting the wax in a double boiler, then pouring the hot wax inside the horn, turning it inside the horn itself before pouring it back out.

Safety Information: Don't melt the wax directly on the stove top- use the double boiler to prevent wax fires. Also, bee's wax has a higher melting point than many other kinds of wax. As a result, it hurts more than other wax splashing on your skin. So be careful.

Your horn is finished. It isn't suitable for hot drinks, but mead is better anyway. wink

It's not too difficult.
I think I finished my horn with about six hours or so of work, but then, mine was pre-cleaned.

I've had good luck with ebay, and a quick look over these shows me some pieces I wouldn't mind picking up.

Thank you! I've been wanting to make some powder horns and drinking horns for a while but just couldn't find any. For some reason I never think of the internet sweatdrop