Ivory Bead

[Elvin Ehrhardt]

There are still a few sources out there for ivory. I've even seen it pop up on Ebay from time to time. Another source is to keep a sharp lookout for anyone junking an old piano. I've harvested a lot of old elephant ivory from piano keys. It's a bit thin for making sight beads but it works great for doing inlay work. You can tell when you delaminate the piano key covering you look at the covering at an angle and you can see the grain of the ivory almost like the grain in wood. If you see the grain pattern you've got ivory and most of that came from elephant tusks back in the day.

[Bill Murphy]

Toby, .157, not .0157, but you knew that.