Horn turned into a necklace creating wearable art

Last August I went on one of the most amazing trips ever. I spent a few days after a visit in Uganda in the Masai Mara wildlife reserve in Kenya. I had always dreamed of going on safari before, but didn't know that it would be something that I would ever be able to do. You can read more about my experience on safari here and here.

While we were at one of the local safari camps, I acquired an Impala horn. It was found in the dried scat of an animal and looks to be that of a small Impala that was a yummy dinner for one of the bigger animals in the Mara. However, it's pretty darn small, so I'm now second guessing if it's an Impala or a Topi.  Whatevs, it doesn't really matter. It's awesome.

I brought it home, not sure what I would do with it, but just this past weekend, I decided to try making a necklace out of it and the end result is fantastic! I love it! And I love that it reminds me of a such a special place in this world.

This is the horn. It's only about two and a half inches long. It has the most amazing color and the starts of those tell tell coils that the Impala horns get as the animal ages.

Not quite sure what an Impala looks like? These are a few grazing in the field.

I used a wire twist tie to create a loop. I looked for ideas on how to connect the horn to a chain but when I started looking at jewelry findings the best thing I found was a heavy twist tie that had held together some wire that I had bought. I added a small ring to the loop. I connected the ring through the center loop on the long chain that I had bought at Hobby Lobby and then used Gorilla Glue to secure the loop to the inside of the horn. In the picture it shows that I'm using Martha Stewart jewelry glue. I intended to until I found out that the glue had dried up. In the end, I think that Gorilla Glue worked better.

My daughter is already trying to steal it from me to wear to school so I consider that a fashion win.

I love how this project turned out. I was able to take such a special treasure and make wearable art from it.  How cool is that?!