OK.
1st my promised update: "Everything S'ok so far!"

Next ...O you lucky guys
Here it is ...this post and the next I think you will like.

Baby Pictures! Yay!
yup you heard right.
I dug out 2 pieces ...took me awhile I'll tell you..I was digging through old (I'm a sucker for keeping nostalgic work) saved work for DAYS to find these 2 relics! I carved and cast it when I was 15 years old...36 years ago...wow that makes me sound and feel real old

The 1st photo ....looks like hell eh?
Well when it was 1st carved ..it was carved in a specific way to highlight the detail and augment it for the final product ....the mold.
The original here..on a backdrop of white to show the pierced through carving (very tricky delicate work that...not to mention it makes said piece VERY fragile in compare with a solid bas-relief carving in antler.)
It is exactly 1 1/4 inches in diameter not too big.....
It WAS EXACTLY 3/16 of an inch thick...I say was since the mold process was a hot one (for metals) and it charred the antler to a depth of almost 1/16 of an inch on its front surface....I scraped it down...brought the relief work back to snuff where it needed it...and I DID ANOTHER hot mold...it made it through a second charring and what you see in a photo I just took less than a couple hours ago...is the original still in pretty good shape ...now only 1/16 of an inch thick ...survived high heat charring twice and 36 years of abuse on top of that...If it had been twice as thick originally I don't doubt it could have made it through 3-4 or 5 intolerably hot mold making procedures...(When I mean hot...I mean so hot in fact we mere mortals would have caught fire or begun to melt from the heat - Hot....pretty hot)

Now then...the original was done in the choicest cut of deer antler and the piece though pierced and adding vulnerability was circular and concave...adding to it's strength.

The moose antler part I have made is not as strong (a negative)...but it is more flexible...(bonus)...it has finicky "levels" to it (negative)...but there is less surface to "hold" the heat during the process. (bonus) and has a higher survivability if doing a hot mold process for something like metals....therefore I give the moose antler part done in metals only 1 hot mold...at extreme 2 before collapsing for good. If doing cooler molds...for resins and such..it should survive at least 4 such processes if not more...but I cannot see it surviving more than 10. Also...it would be imperative to make a cast in something very durable...any metal...really... so a "master" copy exists...to make future molds from...since cool molds out of liquid rubbers...do not have a good lifespan.

Anyway here is the original in deer antler having survived 2 hot mold processes..and 36 years of additional abuse at 1 1/4 inches in dia. by 1/16 of an inch thick and accompanying it...the very 1st cast in metal I ever did..in silver. Antler is resilient ...holds an edge well...no matter how shallow the depth...I measured once..it can hold edges...ie...carved line beside carved line beside carved line...etc...with a distance between the lines of less than 1/64 of an inch...for myself ...I used to be able up to 1/ 128th I know....but few bother to notice such details...so it is only for personal I carve "THAT" tight.







It was my 1st work at the age of 15 so...it is young and not indicative of my current work 36 years later obviously...

the next post and the photos contained will give you an idea how I have progressed since then in the realms of skill and application of the medium.
It may take a bit ....but it will be posted within 4 hours tops.

P.S. the design is of 3 dogs knotted around each other chasing and biting each other's tails ...drawn onto the antler and then carved from that point. As well the legs and body parts overlapping each other in proper bas-relief style are carved down or carved up to give the viewer's eye the impression of depth or "over and under knotwork" ...ie. a leg "in front" of another animals leg.

In conclusion here...Oh yeah ....antler is freakin tough.