#turtle shell

Today’s Tarot of Bones Daily Draw is the King of Cups, reversed. Sometimes despite our best efforts our emotions overwhelm us. This is a normal, human experience, so don’t beat yourself up about it! Instead, do your best to draw on the skills and tools you’ve learned over the years to help keep you afloat amid the storm. You may still get soaked and the going may be rough, but you’ll get through it, and things will eventually calm.

You can order the Tarot of Bones deck and book, or purchase a Tarot of Bones reading, at http://thetarotofbones.com/shop/ – and yes, even if you don’t have a Paypal account you CAN use the Paypal option to pay with a debit or credit card!

The sun came out so its time for some turtle cleaning! This female Eastern Box Turtle was beautifully cleaned by nature so she got a soapy scrub and a dip in peroxide for cleaning and sanitizing and is now sitting with a peroxide/baking soda paste for some whitening. In the first picture you can see the plastron scutes starting to come apart after drying from the soapy bath so I’m hoping they stay put now, otherwise I’ll have a fun project on my hands. Looking forward to getting this one all cleaned up!

And a bit of learning experience with this plastron piece! First picture is after the initial soapy bath and the second picture is after an overnight soak in hydrogen peroxide. Some nice grease popped up at the bottom but the bright orange stain is due to tannin/mineral staining that was oxidized by the peroxide. The third picture is after a few weeks of degreasing to remove some of the grease and reduce the oxidized stain. In this case, a reducer like Iron Out would be needed to help remove and whiten the staining, while an oxidizer like peroxide would bring it back full force. I’m happy leaving this piece the way it is for now!

A little how-to on shining up this turtle shell! I used tape and plastic wrap to cover the bone areas since I didn’t want the bone to be shiny, then applied several light coats of some matte finishing spray I found at a craft store. I didn’t want the shell super shiny so I went with matte just to brighten. It definitely doesn’t look as shiny as it does in pictures! The larger plastron piece was being glued so it was the last to get shined up.

It’s been a rough few weeks but I’ve finally gotten around to finishing up this box turtle shell! Top row shows before and after shining it up and bottom row shows before and after whitening (pre-shining). The shell pattern reminds me of cave paintings and it has me completely enamored!