In this article in our Materials Series, we're looking at baleen, a material that is commonly used in jewellery, sculpture, and basketry. Baleen is the filter-feeding system inside the mouths of a variety of whales, including bowhead, blue, and humpback whales. [1] It is composed of keratin—the same protein that makes up human fingernails and hair—which gives the baleen a bristly texture.
Our guide through this process is Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower, an Iñupiaq artist who makes jewellery and clothing. Originally from Utqiaġvik (Barrow), AK, she moved to Anchorage, AK, where she currently resides, in 2006 to pursue her education. After this, she started working with her mentor, Sugpiaq painter and sculptor Alvin Amason. “He taught us how to work with a lot of our native materials,” Brower says. She advocates for cultural revitalization in her work and aims to use traditional materials.
Brower first started working with baleen when she was in elementary school. For Brower, the material is easy to work with and also has a community aspect to it, bringing people together for the hunt and celebration. “I actually really love working with baleen. It’s very forgiving. . . . What really drew me to baleen was how many things you can do with it. It’s very flexible,” she says. [2]
Depending on the project, the processing steps can take anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days. Brower mainly uses the base end of the baleen in her work because it’s thicker and easier to work with. The other end is thinner, making it brittle and difficult to manipulate, and has a hair-like texture. “I’ve been wanting to experiment with that portion,” she says.
Step 1: Hunt
The process starts with the whale hunt. “We celebrate the bowhead whale through whaling season and nalukataq, the blanket toss,” Brower says. There are two whale hunting seasons in Alaska: spring (April and May) and fall (October, depending on the ice patterns on the ocean currents). Brower was part of a whale-hunting crew in Utqiaġvik. Her grandfather Arnold Brower Sr. was a whaling captain, but since his passing and her moving to Anchorage, she is no longer part of a crew. She still receives her baleen from these crews, often bartering with hide, fish, and other goods. Once the whaling crew harvests the whale, they bring it onto the beach and cut sections of and divvy up the pieces between the crew and community.
Raw, uncleaned baleen COURTESY LEON MISAK KINNEEVEAUK
Step 2: Clean
Once Brower receives the baleen, she will clean it to remove any debris. She often uses steel wool first and then washes the baleen with soap and water. After rinsing the baleen, Brower leaves it to air-dry, which only takes a few minutes. You can use paper towel or a cloth to help dry it faster.
A piece of cleaned baleen ready for etching COURTESY LEON MISAK KINNEEVEAUK
Step 3: Cut
When the baleen is dry, Brower cuts it into pieces with a band saw. “It’s very forgiving, so it’s easily cut with a saw or band saw,” she says. Often she works with baleen in jewellery, specifically earrings, and will cut the material to fit her projects. Brower describes the texture of the baleen as very hard, almost plasticky. Depending on the number of pieces, this step could take as little as 10 minutes, or “I could spend a good hour or two just cutting,” Brower says.
Cutting the baleen with a band saw COURTESY BRITT’NEE KIVLIQTARUQ BROWER
Cut piece of baleen COURTESY BRITT’NEE KIVLIQTARUQ BROWER
Step 4: Sand
Sometimes the band saw will leave some white streaks through the baleen, so Brower will sand the piece by hand. Wet sandpaper smoothes the baleen and creates less dust particles, making clean up easier. Dry sand paper is useful because it allows you to easily see which areas need to be sanded more evenly. Brower uses wet-to-dry sandpaper, so she can do both. She will start with a coarse sandpaper to remove the white streaks, anywhere from one hundred to four hundred seventy-four sand grit, and then she’ll switch to a finer sandpaper, around six hundred sand grit. You can go higher, like eight hundred or two thousand, depending on how shiny you want the material to be. The higher the sandpaper grit, the finer it is and the smoother and shinier the baleen will be. “If you want to spend a lot of time on sanding to make it look really nice, I feel like that would take a few hours,” she says. “I sand by hand, but I’ve been trying to figure out ways to use my dremel to do it,” she says. “A little goes a long way when you go to sand the baleen. It can be easily nicked or scratched by sharp objects,” Brower says. When she is finished sanding, she will clean the baleen with water and wait for it to completely dry.
Sanding baleen COURTESY BRITT’NEE KIVLIQTARUQ BROWER
Step 5: Polish
Once Brower is satisfied with the smooth texture and doesn’t see any white streaks left in the baleen, she will polish it on her polishing wheel at a high speed. The polishing compound she uses is a white diamond polish, which is a solid block with a clay-like texture that Brower uses on the wheel. She believes this works best for baleen and ivory. She will put the baleen on the wheel, making sure to get every angle. The amount of time this takes depends on how well you have sanded your piece. “It’ll look like glass at the end. Really reflective. It’s really pretty,” Brower says of the finished product.
Polishing baleen on the polishing wheel COURTESY BRITT’NEE KIVLIQTARUQ BROWER
How to care for pieces made with baleen
Baleen is relatively durable, but it can split, warp, and dry out if it is not cared for properly. If you wear makeup and use hairspray, Brower recommends using those products before putting on baleen earrings or other jewellery. These chemicals can degrade keratin and tarnish the metal finishings. If you wear your pieces often, Brower recommends cleaning them with a damp cloth and rehydrating them with food-grade all-natural oil once a year. Store your baleen pieces in cool, dry places.
A finished pair of baleen earrings COURTESY BRITT’NEE KIVLIQTARUQ BROWER
Notes
1 “The Wonders of Baleen,” Feheley Fine Arts, December 2020, feheleyfinearts.com/the-wonders-of-baleen/?srsltid=ARcRdnqEC7TuXa1n-Ex14qkX0QAwTAkVy04lVHeEh1Mr6Q39qZGyrSCA.
2 All quotes Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower, interview with Melissa Kawaguchi, April 2026.