First of all, I would like to thank you very much for noticing the horns and for the compliments. Both of these horns were the inspiration of horns pictured in Michael Brigg's "Piedmont North Carolina Banded Powder Horns" book. The horns started out as green colored horns with various amounts of white mixed throughout the horn. I rasped all the white off of the horns and then finished the outsides with a scraper and some 0000 steel wool. I then scraped the insides of the horns until they were thin enough to see through when held up to the light down to where the middle bands are located. With the bands pinned into place using tooth picks, both horns were then submerged in a solution of potassium permanganate. After soaking them in the potassium permanganate solution for about a minute I removed the horns and while still damp sprinkled them with black tempera powder. I then wiped the horns dry with a cotton shop rag. This gave me the base color. The base plugs were then pinned into place. Next I rubbed a coat of linseed oil over the entire horn, base plugs included. Using the linseed oil as a carrier I then strategically rubbed lamp black into any low or creviced areas. Again, using a cotton shop rag I removed the excess linseed oil and lamp black. I then hung the horns out in the sun to dry. Once dry, a coat of paste wax completed the process.
The upper horn has a turned walnut base plug. The lower horn has its base plug turned from some very dense cherry from Virginia. The screw tip on the upper horn is turned piece of donor horn tip and the tip on the lower horn was turned from a piece of elk antler. Both plugs have been hollowed out on the inside.
One strap is made from bark tanned leather and a piece of cotton pillow ticking and the other strap is hemp dyed with medium brown leather dye.
Dave
