I received my Austro-Hungarian badge today

[pimpinett]

and it's even better than I hoped it would be, especially after some polish. Photos tomorrow.

Am also bleaching bird and lemming bones for a pair of earrings to match the Carmen Miranda turban, which I will wear on Saturday if everything goes according to plan. Artificial cherries, buttons and bones.



Here it is!

Comments

[lasergirl.livejournal.com]

Oohh! Don't bleach too much or you will dissolve those lovely little bones. Sometimes just toothbrushing them with peroxide will do wonders....

(yes, I have dissolved bird heads. Why do you ask?)

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

I think I overdid it a little on the bird skull, actually, it's a little more fragile now, but it should be fixable somehow. It's very white and very clean now, at least. :)

[lasergirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah I boiled a seagull skull and it got very chalky. But I think those bones tend to be a little more fragile because they are birds?? I'm not sure.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Possibly. The lemming skull is definitely sturdier than the bird skull, I will say that, and they're about the same size. Maybe the bird skull is thinner, but softer and more elastic? I've seen birds fly head first into windows apparently without cracking the skull, so they can't be that fragile.

[volksjager.livejournal.com]

Eek. What did you use for polish ? Toothpaste works best. I use it on all three iron crosses.

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Häxan Silverputs. :) Has rather similar ingredients to toothpaste, actually. I've just brought out the raised bits, so the details can be seen more clearly.

[lie-to-be-happy.livejournal.com]

Absolutely ace!

Where did you procure such an item and how large is it?

I'm looking for something to put on a side cap and this looks great!

Have you ever seen some of the Yugoslavian/Serb badges?

They're priced rather high, but they look pretty neat as well:

http://tinyurl.com/cu7gzk

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I came across this one on Ebay, from an Austrian seller. It's about 5 x 3 cm, slightly larger than most of my badges. The Swedish ones are usually from goodwill and vintage stores around here.

Never seen those, they look great! Very tempting, I must say.

[lie-to-be-happy.livejournal.com]

The death's head, the grenades, the lettering...I'm envious!

I'll keep my eyes open for one.

[nodding-folk.livejournal.com]

I just found something very similar to your badge:

http://stores.epier.com/outpostflags/viewitem.asp?id=48475