Conejo Shoot Photos 2013

It was another amazing Conejo Archers event last weekend. I thought I'd share some photos for those that missed it. Saturday was hot like summer, and Sunday was cool and breezy. Camping was great. We all went out for dinner on Friday night to Red's.

On Saturday night we had a bbq. We made steaks for the two of us and others cooked what they brought. Jack and I shared hot chocolate. Aimee brought a fancy cake with glazed strawberries. Yummy!

I don't see Benson and Lisa very often, and they were shooting with Sal's group, so it was great to have my booth right by some of the moving targets so I could watch everyone shoot.

An archer checks out Ken Villars' booth.

Good to see more girls shooting.

Darla catches a nap after a busy day.

Ken, John, Sal and Guy

Guy getting the camp organized.

Me on Saturday

Sunday was windbreaker weather. Aimee, Lisa, Benson and Sal head up to the range.

The outhouse moving target scenario was popular.

Aiming at the stegosaurus moving between the straw bales.

Benson and Sal shoot at the dinosaur.

Aimee and Lisa shoot at the moving mosquito.

Heath's amazing historic replica arrow.

Wicked arrowhead.

Heath discusses historic archery.

Jack helping with dad's archery business.

Japanese braid weaving is called Kumihimo.

Jack is tired. Time to go home.

Kid's Arrows

Right now I'm busy straightening dowels for kid's arrows. If I hurry they will be ready for the Conejo Shoot in Simi Valley, CA this weekend. If not, then surely in time for the Woodley Park Swap on the following weekend. The only thing hindering me is it is already getting in the 90's outside. That and we keep having to go to town for those annoying little things like groceries and smog checks. And what with town being 30 miles away now, it takes half the day every time we leave the yard. I can't wait to get to the fun part of making the arrows.  For me that's the colorful part: painting or dyeing, and picking out the feather colors.

Lyondemere Anniversary

Yesterday I went to the Lyondemere Anniversary in Long Beach CA.  It wasn't an archery event, but that didn't stop Guy from taking his bow bench and tackling a new bow. Many people dropped by to ask questions about the bow and the wood and the process. Some needed arrows fixed.

I entered $5. into the raffle and won four sketchbooks. People put together new and gently used items, and some people put in items they have lovingly crafted or an I.O.U. for a new item to be custom made, and then each pile (basket) gets an envelope.  When you get your tickets, you only use them to try to win things you want.  It works out great as each envelope has one number drawn, and the winner comes to collect their prize.

There were three bags with will lots and lots of metal buttons, and one guy won them all!  Lots of cool stuff was given away including books, Harry Potter robes, 2 Harry Potter wands, a vampire slayer sword, an inkle loom, bunches of trim and thread for knitting and weaving, and so on and so forth. Even if you didn't win, it was fun to be part of the excitement.

We had a great spot in a lovely shady grove with a sea breeze. I saw lots of old friends and made some new ones.

Court Jester

Cute fluffy dog.

Handsome lad.

Working on a bow.

Removing everything that doesn't look like a bow.

Lots of work, but satisfying I think.

Me trying not to get sunburned this time.

Stitchery

Closing Court

Talking to friends.

Brave Movie Promotion Archery Event Today in Pasadena

Guy Taylor from Greenman archery.

We had a great turn-out for the Brave archery competition today. Someone from Disney was there giving out big double sided posters of the red headed girl in the movie.  There were also stickers, coloring pages, postcards and other swag.  We love swag, yes we do.

My necklace booth had a steady flow of kids wanting to make a leather necklace.  One sister and brother even came back for seconds so they could make them for their dad for Father's Day next Sunday.  Most of them were surprised that the stamps were carved from erasers. I took lots of photos but my camera is still in the truck and I just don't have the energy to deal with it right now.

Two of my SCA friends, Dole and his wife Rebecca came to the event and watched Sal's arrow making demo. We all had a blast. The kids in the archery contest got nice certificates. A lot of people stepped in to help.  The Pasadena Roving Archers were raising money for Ronald McDonald House in Pasadena. High Tech Archery did a lot of the behind the scenes stuff.  Greenman Archery and Ken Villars Custom Bows did demos all day.  Aimee and I showed off our leather work and beading.  I think everyone learned something and went home with some mementos of a lovely day in Pasadena, CA. And thanks to the tons of volunteers that set up all the targets, safety fencing and netting, and general schlepping of bows, water, tables, etc.

We can't wait for the movie Brave to come out on June 22, 2012.

Jim works on a longbow.

A young girl tries out archery.

Sign up booth.

Taking a break at the necklace booth.

Young archers line up to hear the rules.

Row of targets.

Stamping a Leather Necklace

I'm so excited about the Brave event in Pasadena tomorrow.  Initially I was working on a pouch making demo.  Then late last night I saw a leather SCA site favor sitting on my keyboard, and I thought, 'Wouldn't the kids much rather make a simple leather necklace to take home?"  So I carved 3 stamps to stamp on some leather squares.  Then as I had my little stack of squares, my cat stepped on one, and I thought, "Oh, a cat paw print stamp would be neat."  Since 3 stamps fit on each eraser, I did the cat's paw, and two more designs. So the kids will have 6 to choose from: a bow and arrow, an arrowhead, a lightning bolt, a cat's paw, a star, and a moon.

I'll roll out practice paper on the table. Each kid can stamp their own leather square and then I can help them string it and add 2 beads.  This should work.  I just don't know if we'll get 10 kids or 200.  But the kids that don't get to shoot a bow can at least have a memento to take home from the event.

The Brave Youth Archery Event

With the recent influences of the movie Hunger Games and Brave, we found ourselves invited to participate in this upcoming archery event.  Don't forget to register in advance. This is not at our usual range, so be sure you drive to the right place. Also, if I know your kid in real life and you leave a comment below, I'll be one of your sponsors. I see I've posted this before the RovingRangers.com site has put up the info, so check back in a few days.

Source: img.photobucket.com via Theodora on Pinterest

Santiago Archery Range

Guy and I made it out to the range in Santa Ana (Santiago) to shoot some arrows. Only I was shooting arrows and he was schmoozing. Then it got dark. He never got to shoot a single arrow. There were about a dozen people there. One guy named Frank was a great storyteller. Too great maybe because I'm still spooked out about the supposedly true story of a man in the country who would skin tourists and make tools out of their bones, and another story about an assassin whose weapon of choice was a knitting needle. Shudders. Glad it wasn't dark and we weren't camping.

That target they have is rather odd.  One archer said it's made out of old carpeting and then painted.  If I hit the target near the center, my arrows would just bounce off.  Maybe that's why the other people were shooting at balloons.


I just found this article about the park. http://newsantaana.com/2010/02/15/2032/. The author doesn't say much about the archery range but it's obvious he wants to change the park so it's more suited to families. So if you are so inclined he lists information for any of you archers to speak up and say you don't want the archery range mucked with. And archery is a family sport even if the author, who is apparently Latino, sees no use for it. He makes one comment about the Lawn Bowling only being used by elderly white people. The comments are priceless.

New Bowyers Gathering Paleoplanet OC Branch

Greetings all. I'm announcing a new gathering.

I was going to call it the OC Chapter, but 'branch' seemed like an appropriate moniker if we are going to be making bows out of branches. This idea has been kicking around in my head for nearly a year, but it finally seemed like the time to launch it. For those of you who can't make it to Pasadena or who want to work on your bows in a group more than once a month, we are going to start a gathering at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley (Orange County) CA. It will be the first Sunday of each month, barring schedule conflicts, starting on August 1, 2010.

I'm hoping to have it half way between the street and the archery range. Those who want to shoot arrows can take the short hike to the range, and those with heavy benches, tools and rock to haul will be sprawled out under the shade trees outside of the range (since the range itself has almost no shade). Mile Square Park is a regional park so if you park inside it's going to cost you. Happily though, there is usually street parking, which is free. I've already got 6 or 7 people that said they'd come out and join us.

This group isn't to replace the Pasadena one in any way, but to spread the joy of primitive skills and make it available to more people.

I'm also hoping Marianne will merge her Stitch and Bitch group with us as well, since half the group seems to be going to the Paleoplanet gatherings already and she lives in Fountain Valley. That park also has 2 small lakes, and other things for families to do. The parking is better earlier in the day, so if you need to be close, come early. The range is free but every once in a while it's reserved for a private event by the SCA or boyscouts, so be flexible. It's not like all of us don't have many other things to do, right?

More details to follow as August approaches.

Paleoplanet Meeting This Sunday

We should have some great weather for this Sunday's meeting. We got a bit of rain mid week so that should green things up out there, wash the dust off the trees, and make everything more beautiful than it already is. So bring your bows out to build, or bring your flintknapping tool bucket, or your beads to sew onto your quiver. Come prepared with tools and questions. We do have a loaner tool bucket in blue, because no one can anticipate every tool they might need. Or if you have old tools you wouldn't mind adding to the bucket you can do that too. Label your stuff because at the end of the day we always end up with a few leftover tools or wood and no one knows who it belongs to. See you out there at the Arroyo Seco bridge.

Halcyon

I want to live in a yurt. I don't know why, because I have no experience other than tent camping to compare it to. Can I buy an acre out in the country in Calif. and put a yurt on it? I'm not sure what to do about bathroom facilities. Solar shower and camping toilet? I can't believe I said toilet in my first blog post. Anyone have any land for sale in Halcyon CA?

Conejo Traditional Archery Shoot

We just got back from the traditional archery shoot in Simi Valley. My little craft booth did fine. I don't know what I was so worried about. I took lots of photos that I'll be posting soon. Archery is truly a sport for both genders and all ages. The Conejo Archers put on a great event.

The face painting was a big hit too. A lot of the younger kids were volunteers and enjoyed some face painting fun to go with their jobs in the snack bar and on the archery range. We shoot at big foam animals and someone has to haul them all out there over many acres, set them all, up, and bring them back in later. So the younger volunteers helped with that too.

They had prizes for the best archers and a big raffle. They gave away a lot of smaller items and also 2 bows.

Our campsite was busy making bows, mending arrows, grilling sausages, consuming carnitas tacos, and having fun. We had a jam session Sat. night with a guitar, drums, a ukulele, and flutes.

Then we went to sleep in our tent with the buzzing snores of our fellow archers. Then everyone was up early to do the 2nd day of the shoot. Except for me and the other vendors. We went to set up our booths for the day.

This post is getting long enough so more later.

Conejo Shoot

Next weekend I'll be going to the Conejo archery event in Simi Valley. I may be vending there but I haven't heard back yet from the organizer. The event itself is up and over some pretty steep hills so my boyfriend tries to get me to stay in camp. And right now I'm pretty out of shape so I'm happy to comply. And sometimes it's a scorcher. This is maybe my fourth time there. I'm sure I could get through the course if I had to but it ruins his fun if he has to worry about me falling off a cliff all the time.

Blacksmithing

My friend David Brunetta is a sculptor that lives in Laguna Beach CA. We love going to his studio and making things when he has time. On this day my boyfriend was remaking 3 hatchets so he could use them to help with making bows and other woodcrafts. They had to cut the handles off, and then reheat the metal and make it the way they wanted it to be. Fascinating!