Beautiful shell work

These are hand carved, but I wonder if something similar is possible with the laser? Gorgeous stuff! The depth of colors is beautiful.

Edited to add the artist is Gregory Halili. The shell’s aren’t just cared, apparently they are painted as well.

https://surrealismart.tumblr.com/post/159309765590/culturenlifestyle-stunning-hand-carved-skull

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Those are amazing!

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Won’t go into a long winded explanation but haven’t had good results with cutting or engraving similar material, at least any that has any real thickness to it. Very thin shell veneers seem to cut fine but shell tends to powder and shatter easily. Guessing you might be able to very, very slowly take dozens of incremental swipes at shell but the majority of the work would need to be done by hand anyway. My personal opinion is you might as well do everything by hand. (this is a lot different than cutting thin shell for inlays)

Of course just because I can’t believe it is possible doesn’t mean that it isn’t.

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Love this! Thank you for sharing it.

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Aww, that’s too bad, thanks for sharing your experience though. Perhaps it’s just meant to be done by hand. I suppose you would do a very light etch to transfer the design or create texture. Very happy to hear veneers are good to go though.

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I’d freak out a little if I visited someone’s house and saw those shell/skulls decorating the fireplace mantle.

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Kind of spooky looking to me although I am amazed at the artwork of the carvings. :relaxed:

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I love these. I have tried carving bones(beef bones I found on the beach) and shells with a dremel before, the smell from bone is terrible and the dust is really fine. Shells are a little bit easier because they are less dense than that but super delicate so I would agree that either light power with a bunch of passes or doing it by hand. But you never know until you try really, you might find the right variables to do it well, just expect a lot of scraps and mess ups. I hope it does work because those are fantastic.

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Umm. This made me imagine cows swimming in the ocean wearing old fashioned bathing suits…
Finding beef bones on the beach…you said that like its a normal thing…lol
:cow2:

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I was wondering what kind of beaches bricry hangs out on and then hoped the bones were trash from camp fires. I never considered cows in bathing suits.

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Haha! I figured I’d have to clarify. They were beef bones from ribs. The beach was near a restaurant that had a deck overlookong the water. People would occasionally throw the bones on the water or at the seagulls. They’d then wash up on the beach super smooth and a very uniform color. Perfect for painting or carving.

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Sea cows are normal…sorta.

I do like the idea of cows in swimming caps.

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Laserable or not, these are super cool. I’m in a bit of awe… :astonished:

Thanks for sharing!

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