Bone carving in Bali, Indonesia, is a rich, traditional art form using cow/buffalo bone and horns to create intricate decorative items and jewelry, originally tied to Hindu mythology and spirituality, with artisans in villages like Tampak Siring transforming animal by-products into cultural artifacts, often featuring deities, mythical creatures like Garuda, and spiritual symbols for homes, temples, and international markets. The process involves sterilizing bones (often from slaughterhouses), carving with chisels and files, and polishing, turning organic material into detailed sculptures and functional art.
Materials used - Primarily cow and water buffalo bones, but also deer/goat horns, sourced from across Indonesia.
Preparation: Bones are boiled, bleached, scraped, and sun-dried to clean and sterilize them.
Carving: Artisans use chisels and files to carve detailed patterns, figures, and motifs.
Finishing: Horns are often reattached with resin, and pieces are polished.
Themes & Significance
Spiritual Roots: Art reflects Balinese Hinduism, depicting gods (like Ganesha), demons, Hindu epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata), and symbols of protection, fertility, and prosperity.
Cultural Heritage: Preserves ancestral stories and cultural identity, adorning temples, palaces, and homes.
Modern Interpretations - which is where we at Wildthingsbeads comes in -Combines traditional designs with contemporary styles for jewelry, totems, and home decor, such as moon faces, Greenman, Sasquatch, mermaids.
Location & Artisans.
Villages: Specific villages, such as Tampak Siring in Gianyar, are known centers for bone carving.
Workshops: Artisans work in workshops, often welcoming visitors to see the craft first hand.
Our source has become our friend over the years. He is an international citizen, born and raised in New Zealand, lives in Bali where he works with the local artisans, and buys from them, sells in Tucson, Arizona, where we met him, Hong Kong trade shows, Bangkok, Thailand trade shows. We bring him designs and he custom carves them for us.
Artisan carvers in the workshops, no electric tools are used.
It’s a dying craft, the carvers are getting old, and young men don’t want to get into it, they would rather get into computers, software, or banking. Just like all handicrafts around the world. Everywhere we go, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hong Kong. It’s disappearing.
We also carry a line of bone skull beads, carved in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. For the most part they are antique, carved from water buffalo, yak bone or camel bone. You can identify the yak and camel bone by the strong urine smell, even though they are more than one hunFred years old.
Thakurganj, a small locality in Lucknow,India, is home to numerous artisans practising bone carving. Situated in the heart of the city, Thakurganj has a predominantly Muslim population and has been a hub for bone carving for generations. The craft is primarily practised by Muslim communities, but in recent times, some Hindu communities have also learned the craft and created small products.
We specialize in vintage beads, and are always on the look out for old and unusual items to bring to market.
About the Creator
Guy lynn
born and raised in Southern Rhodesia, a British colony in Southern CentralAfrica.I lived in South Africa during the 1970’s, on the south coast,Natal .Emigrated to the U.S.A. In 1980, specifically The San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Search for a Sister, Chapter Two
4-H-N heard not a word about her secret mission around Headquarters over the following days, so had to conclude either Mini-Flash Phytolith hadn’t been listening in after all, or she’d misjudged him. She hoped it was the latter, as she wanted the pair of them to get on, even if he wasn’t going out of his way to make it easy for her.
By Doc Sherwood23 days ago in Chapters
Glass Winter | Chapter X
When it became too much all Mal could do was retreat from the world, despite his high position within the commune. He could no longer cast his thoughts onto all that was beautiful, nor observe the darkness and all its frightful potential. No. He could only be.
By Andrei Babanina day ago in Chapters
Comments (2)
The part about the carvers aging out and younger people choosing computers over chisels really stayed with me — it feels like watching a quiet language fade while the rest of the world speeds up. I also loved the detail about no electric tools being used; there’s something grounding about knowing every line is done by hand, bone turning into story. The way you describe working directly with your source over years makes it feel less like commerce and more like stewardship. When you think about this craft disappearing, do you feel more urgency to document it, or to adapt it so it can survive in a modern way?
Fantastic read, 100% up my alley. I especially appreciate your inclusion of spiritual roots and cultural heritage. And now I’m also super interested in your brad business and curious as to whether you have a brick and mortar shop or a website (or both). I absolutely adore the couple that owns my rock shop(fine, their rock shop); I’m in there at least twice a week. Very interested in seeing more of your inventory and finds.