The Kids Arrows Are Ready to Go

I finished some of the kid's arrows and sold the pink ones at Conejo. I bought more feathers at Conejo and today I'm finishing the last 12 arrows. I already glued the feathers on. I just have the tips to do, so I'll have them at Woodley Park. Remember, these are for small kid's from 3 to 8. Bigger kids use adult arrows.

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.

Arrows For a Friend

A friend of ours ordered these great arrows. I hope she wins a lot of trophies with them.


Arrows by Guy Taylor.

Lots of New Bowyers in the Making

Ready to make bows from boards.

Gabriella finishes her first bow.

Guy explains the process.

Now to get everything all drawn out.

Oops, splinter.  Always keep a pair of tweezers handy when working on wood.

Bow horse and splinter removal

Yesterday we had a great turn out at the archery range. Four young ladies showed up to make bows. So Bill helped them out by donating boards, and Guy helped them lay out the lines and get started. Gabriella was there and she finished the bow she started 2 months ago. It looked fantastic but turned out too light for her draw. It will make a great present to someone with a weaker set of shoulders. She'll have to make a new bow for herself. Or cut off the tips to make the bow stiffer.  Guy helped her put together a bow string.

Terry was working on his bow, but he got a little heavy handed and dug in too deep.  I don't think his bow can be saved. It's a learning curve.

John Scordo brought a bow he made that was the most beautiful laminated bow I have ever seen. Hopefully I got a good photo of it so I can show you. It's hard shooting photos in the shade.  A lot of them don't come out. Somewhere my camera is buried in yesterday's tote bags.

Guy tests out John's bow.

John explains how he made it.

Ken and Barbara weren't there because she's just about ready to bring a new life into the world. It's too dicey to be that far from home in case that little thing called labor starts.  We wish the Villars family the best with their new arrival.

Lizard sunning itself on a rock.

Me in my wet bandana and sunhat.

Stalking a squirrel

 Gabriella finishing her longbow.

See you all next month.

Artistry of Arrows

Amazing arrows. I wish it was in English and they told what kind of paint and process they were using. It came up with I used the terms 'airbrush' and 'arrows' though.

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

Arrow Raffle Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered our arrow raffle for Njall's widow. More details here: http://greenmanarchery.blogspot.com/2012/02/arrow-raffle-results.html. The winner was a local SCA member named Cecelia Medici. She runs the thrown weapon events so she needs all the weapons she can get right?

Opening Court Robin Hood Tourney

Guy Taillear wins a service award for archery.

 

Raffle number drawing for a benefit.

Upcoming Chamberlain Ranch Shoot

Tom Mills working on Guy's bow at the last Paleoplanet gathering.

Guy is getting ready for the Chamberlain Ranch Shoot, which means he's out on the patio too melting beeswax for archery. It keeps the bowstring supple and extends the life of it. He pours it into little containers and sells it in the archery booth.  It's $1.00 for a one ounce container, which lasts a long time.
He's making stock arrows to sell at the event, but if you want to make sure he has the kind you need, it's better to order them in advance, that way you get to pick the colors of the cresting and feathers.
Unfortunately I won't be going this year. I'm staying home to take care of the cat that has colon issues and needs medicine twice a day.

You can see the beeswax in the basket.

Wallop

Chilly Day But We Worked on Bows Anyway

I really enjoyed our Paleoplanet gathering last Sunday. Baby Jack and Baby Quincy both brought their moms and dads. Quincy's mom brought red velvet cupcakes.

I got some help with my whittling from Tom Mahr. He said I could keep the book to finish my rooster that I'm carving out of a branch. He set me up with all the tools I need.  Very generous of him.
Tom Mills came by for a little while, though he was pretty tired from his trip to Florida. Lots of new people dropped by to work on bows and ask questions. Here are some of the photos I took.

I ran into some of my SCA friends as well. They had a practice on the other range. We have a tourney on Sunday but with a 60% chance of rain forecast it may get postponed or canceled. We have arrows to deliver at that event so I hope the weather clears up.

How to Add Arrow Points With Epoxy by Guy Taylor

Useful for making wood arrows and fixing wood arrows. You might want to follow his youtube stream.

Gene Foster Recap

It's good to be home. I was pretty tired after the Gene Foster Traditional Archery Rendezvous. Seems I'm allergic to sleeping in a tent in 27 degree weather. So I never actually did any archery. I was too tired to be running around with pointy objects.




I was inspired however, and first thing this morning I went to the leather shop and got some leather to make a new quiver. My canvas quiver is rather an embarrassment and is falling apart after several years of use.



This event had everything I love about events and everything I hate.



On the plus side:

1. I met fun new people

2. I got to know old friends better

3. I got to meet my friend's new baby Jack

4. I got some exercise hiking over hill and dale

5. The weather was perfect during the day times

6. We had great food cooked in our campsite

7. I saw some amazing archery

8. My friends won some raffle prizes

9. There was a great jam session with banjo, guitar, flutes, and drums on Sat. night

10. Our booth earnings paid for our trip



On the minus side:

1. The drunken idiots that kicked us out of the clubhouse at 10 PM so they could shoot arrows indoors.

2. The member's only indoor bathroom and showers (don't invite guests unless they can use the facilities.

That's four days without a hot shower if anyone is counting).

3. Sore losers who got mad when their friend didn't win the best arrow design contest.

4. Freezing temperatures at night and nowhere to escape from them.

5. Charlie horses...why do I always get those when I'm camping.

6. Musical chairs. I got up to get my dinner in the clubhouse, and someone else pushed all my stuff aside and sat in my chair. My friend got up to get seconds and someone stole his chair entirely, even though his wife was sitting right next to it.

7. Another vendor was selling beaded earrings just like I was. Only hers were $2.00 a pair. And I hear she goes every year so people just assume they can buy her stuff for next to nothing.

8. I was so exhausted with all the packing, booth setting up, booth tearing down, re-packing, and unpacking, I was too tired to do much of anything else.

9. Old men telling tall tales. Did you know big foot was dropped here by aliens?

10. Cuts and bruises from setting up and tearing down camp.



Ah well, that's the best of it and the worst of it.
Would I go back to this event again? Probably not unless I buy an RV some day. It's just too far, too cold, and I didn't really feel welcome there. If I'm just going to meet with friends and shoot arrows, there are much closer venues to do that.

Photos from Paleoplanet last Sunday

We had a record number of atlatls it seems, between Chris' collection and Tom's collection. I have many more photos posted here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/almostfamous/sets/72157624742487662/

I worked on beaded earrings and got 4 pairs made. I talked to George who just visited his family in Ireland. He was working on a new longbow.

Erick, who I first met at an SCA archery shoot showed up as well. He had cracked his bow, and Ken was measuring him for a new one. Erick is multi-talented. He plays the bagpipes too. I wish he'd brought them. So many of us are musicians, we really need a jam session where we are not making bows and arrows and tools.

It was a full day. It always takes me a day to recover after so much excitement.

Atlatl Time

I just got back from the Conejo Archers traditional shoot in Simi Valley. What perfect weather we had! We are so spoiled in S. California.

I met two atlatl makers named Chris and Cary.  Coincidentally they also use the name Paleoarts. When I ferret out their business card from our many bins, I'll add their link. Cary lent me a fancy atlatl to test out. I didn't have much luck with it, but she's really good with it. I think you just have to try a bunch of styles and weights until you find one that works with your hand, arm, shoulder form of throwing.

I found that one of Tom Mill's atlatl's worked really well for me so I traced that one to make my own hopefully. It's going to go into the 'roundtoit' pile until I have more time. I'm taking today off just to unpack, do camping laundry, and get my banking into order because those bills keep coming whether I'm out of town or not.

After the dust settles, I need to finish my own atlatl darts.

On Friday I tried out atlatl's again for the first time in about five or six years. That first contest I only got an 8, but the next day I did it again and got 23, so I'm improving already. Go me!
Sunday I was manning the arrow booth so I missed not one but two atlatl contests. Ah well, I'll have to wait until the next Pasadena meet to try again.

Photos soon. I have to unbury my camera before I can download them.

Bowyers Meet in Pasadena March 2010

Last Sunday we went to Pasadena once again to work on bows, arrows, knapping, atlatls and other primitive projects. Some of our members were off at Valley of Fire doing the atlatl competition, but we still had an amazing turn-out.  Tim Baker was there for the first time in a long time, and he's my frisbee buddy so we had a great time throwing the disc around. Some of the kids joined in the game too.

Diane brought her honey Gary and her poodle Missy. I worked on embroidery and she worked on beads. Paige and Mike were there and I got Paige started on some embroidery. Wish I'd gotten some photos of that.

Guy and Roland busted up a toilet for knapping. Fondly termed Johnnystone or Johnstone, it's a free source of knapping material to learn on.

Sidney and James from the SCA came by. Sidney has a Martin Stick Bow just like mine so I lent James mine and the two of them went off and enjoyed the roving range together. Sidney used the arrows she got from Guy Taylor. Guy's blog is over in the side bar (Greenman Archery).

At the next gathering the Valley of Fire crusaders will no doubt show up with new atlatl's and stories of conquering the wooly mammoth. So if you missed us we'll be there on the third Sunday of next month unless instructed otherwise.

Diane and Missy

Roland and Guy making johnstone

Andrew shooting with a broken arm.

Mike working on a longbow.

Gary tuning a bow.

Lauren, Tom, and Jon talking shop.

Me enjoying the sunshine.