Fixing a Broken, Chipped, Wood Carving, Ivory, Plastic Statue

My Father bought this wooden statue of an elephant with a few wild cats attacking it when he was returning by boat from serving as a missionary in Australia. The boat would stop at different places and he picked this statue up in Africa somewhere if I remember correctly. 

I used to polish this statue as it stood on our pump organ for many years. (See a post about that here) We always had weekly chores we would rotate to a different one each week and I would get out the "Old English" furniture polish and polish all the dark wood on our piano, pump organ, and all the statues my mother bought when she traveled the world. 

I would wonder where she got them or why she got them or if they were a gift as she was a type of ambassador for the U.S. and did many tourism spots and airline promotions etc. She was given many "gifts" and "keys to the city" on her travels. 

At one family party, my dad and step-mother put out things they were getting rid of and this statue was in the "get rid of" pile. I remembered it fondly so I took it. 

It was missing its tusks, missing several claws and toenails and had been glued together at one point where it had been dropped and broken. 

A few weeks ago, I was dusting the family room and looked up at the shelf where I have several wooden carved animals from friends, the girls travels around the world, my father and his wife from their travel and then this one carving. I thought to myself, "I wish I could find tusks somewhere that I could put in and fix up that carving again...." 

Imagine my surprise when a few days later, I was at a second hand store and there was an elephant that had beads all over it for $2 but the beads were falling off and it was not in the best shape but it did have two large plastic tusks that I could easily pull out! I thought for $2, I could try and make those things work for the carving I had. 

I thought to myself that my guardian angels were working overtime to help me find that exact thing. I don't know that I have ever seen an elephant with removable white tusks ever anywhere.

I came home and tried them in the carving I had but they were longer and bigger than I needed so I took some scissors and cut them down by 1/4 of an inch and then used the cut off section and chipped away at it to make sharp teeth and claw pieces. I then cut off larger flatter edges to make the toenail I needed for the elephants foot and was super happy with how they turned out. 

The plastic was whiter and newer looking than the aged bone that had been polished many times over the years and by using the "Old English" polish on it to polish it up, it did yellow them a bit but I wanted it to be darker. I took some black and brown Sharpies and drew a bit on my finger and then wiped it on the plastic and it gave it some age spots. 

I wanted to fill in the cracks where the carving had been glued and asked my super amazing talented niece who makes all sorts of custom mini things, which clay dries hard and is paintable and she suggested this green clay she buys on ebay or amazon that you mix two types together and it gets super sticky and then dries hard. It turns a grey color.(For more on my talented niece click here) 

I got a dab from her and mixed them together and then pushed it into the cracks and it left a bit on the surrounding edges so I just took some mineral spirits and wiped the goo off and it smoothed the goo in the holes so I didn't need to sand it down or anything. The mineral spirits smoothed it out before it hardened so it was perfect. 

Once the clay dried, I used a black Sharpie to cover the clay and unless you were looking, you couldn't tell there was fill in the wood. The ebony wood is so dark that even a dark stain probably wouldn't have gotten the black that I needed so the Sharpie worked great. I just drew on it and wiped it with my finger so that it would blend in and not be shiny. Here is a link to where I show how I do that and why as if you don't rub it in, it leaves a line of shine. Blurring it in with a finger while it is still wet makes it blend and you can't see the line. I use this method on all sorts of things using different colors of Sharpie Pens. 

 I wanted to fix the carving so I could ask my dad about it and see what other memories it will bring up. It seems when I ask him about things, he doesn't remember as much as when I show him the item and then it brings up the memory for him.  I am SO grateful for the guardian angels that work overtime as it seems when I verbalize or think I need or want something, within a few days, I end up getting or finding that thing I wanted or thought of. They are so quick to bring them to me! 

This would work not only on wood but clay, pottery, plastic, metal, chips, etc. I am sure that clay would work on any of those things and if you can't find a Sharpie in the color you needed, you could mix some acrylic paints to get close to the exact color. I have used that method many times as well. 

Have  a Blessed Day!