Fossil ivory comes from three sources—it is either walrus ivory that has been buried for hundreds to thousands of years or it is 10,000 to 50,000 year old ivory from the long extinct woolly mammoth or mastodon. All of these ivories have been buried for centuries and have absorbed minerals from the soil that have turned them varying colors from tan, orange, golden brown and chocolate brown to even black; occasionally a blue or green color is also seen. This ivory is not truly fossilized in the sense that the ivory has been replaced with minerals/stone; it is really just beginning to become mineralized. It is in the earliest stages of fossilization. This ivory is excavated in Alaska during the warm summer months after the ground has thawed. Each summer the Eskimo families leave their main villages and go out to their individual traditional summer camps along the Bering Sea coast. At the summer camps the Eskimos hunt, fish and also dig for the ivory tusks, tools and artifacts that their ancestors left behind as long as 5,000 years ago. This ancient ivory is unique, very beautiful and becoming increasingly scarce as the supply is nonrenewable.
Most of my work is done on mastodon ivory. I get pieces that are cut from the center of the tusk and are creamy in color and not as brittle as the outer bark. It’s beautiful stuff and fun to work on. I also use some fossil walrus, which is beautiful in color but much harder to work. I still occasionally work on antique piano keys, which are old elephant ivory. Although I don’t like working on elephant ivory, recycling these old keys feels better than just letting them be thrown away when someone decides to replace them with plastic.