People of Alaska
Tim of Fairbanks, AK
I continuously notice that the people that live in Alaska are very nice, incredibly helpful, and very interesting. Almost every person I talk to seems to have an interesting story on how they ended up in Alaska or in fewer cases (that I have noticed) what it was like growing up in Alaska. People often refer to these individuals as the characters of Alaska, and in this journal entry I am going to spotlight one of these characters.
This is Tim and he owns a shop in Fairbanks that has every fascinating item you could ever find, from bones to souvenirs.
Tim showing us his fabled basement in his shop.
Tim moved from Michigan to Fairbanks, AK in the 70's. He use to be a furnace mechanic. Now he does this...
Tim is giving a demonstration on how he puts glue on one side of the mammoth tusk and then sands the other side. This smooths and shines the tusk preparing it to be turned into art.
This is Tim's work station where he prepares all of his items.
Tim collects bones, fossils, balene, etc. (don't worry he has the license to do so) and turns them into beautiful works of art. What he is working on in this picture is a piece of mammoth tusk that originally looked like this.
Un-worked piece of mammoth tusk
In the end this piece of tusk may have a carving on it, be sold as is, or have carvings glued onto the tusk. Keep in mind how old this bone must be.
While talking to Tim we (Dominique, Jillian, and Myself) were invited to the fabled basement. The basement resembled this from corner to corner...
Here is just one of many corners/walls that was filled to the top with items. In this case it was antlers.
Dominique Richardsom (fellow PolarTrec teacher) and I in the basement of Tim's shop.
This may not look like much at first, but this basement was filled with antlers, whale bones, mammoth tusks, mammoth brain cavities, teeth, mammoth bones, balene, horns, vertebrae, and much more. Here are some pictures of those items.
Mammoth tooth
Mammoth brain cavity
Mammoth tusk
Stack of bones
Another stack of bones
A whale vertebrae
Piece of a mammoth bone
The amount of history in the room was staggering. Tim is able to take these items and turn them into memorable pieces of art for you to take home so that you too can have this history.
I think this is pretty cool, what about you?
I am excited about bones
Comments