Atlatl Husband and Wife

David made this little video of Barbara and Ken (the newlyweds) learning to use an atlatl. Enjoy.

Tom is in the background shooting a bow he made.

March 17 Paleoplanet Gathering Photos

We had a good time last Sunday out at the Pasadena Arroyo. It was a chilly overcast day and the sun only poked out it's smiling face a few times, but we were just happy it didn't rain. We were busy making bows, atlatl darts, beadwork, gourd water bottles, quivers and all those things we love to work on. This weekend many of us are going to the Sierras to an event called Springville and in a few weeks the atlatl throwers are off to an event in NV called Valley of Fire. So much to do, so little 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!

Bowyers Meet in Pasadena, CA

The rain never showed up on Sunday to ruin our archery meeting, of which I was very thankful. I worked on a kokopelli leather patch for my new snake gourd quiver. My friend just got married and she was making a wooden spoon with the help of her husband.

My bf worked on his hickory bow and actually got it up on the tillering tree to make some measurements.

Jon even got the day off from his REI job so he could come to the meeting. I think he's missed the last 3 gatherings.

New arrows were everywhere. Mario's wife received the valentine's arrows that were auctioned off in the Paleoplanet.net auction. She was out shooting them right away.
It got pretty chilly by 4:30 so we packed it in and headed to dinner at my bf's mom's house.

I just found out there is a Pasadena in TX so I guess now I'll have to tag things Pasadena, CA.

Raffle to Send an Archer to Bulgaria

Our archery group at http://www.paleoplanet.net is auctioning off cool things to raise money to send an archer to Bulgaria. My boyfriend donated 4 things so far. Once you get to Paleoplanet, scroll down to TRADE BLANKET and look for RAFFLE in the titles. His custom arrows went for $150. But he still has other items available. Other members are raffling off things too.

Knappers in Quartsite, AZ

We spent the weekend in Quartzsite AZ. We located the knappers that have been out there for months making arrowheads and knapped blades and jewelry. We spent about $50 at that booth on chert for knapping. We also found some black obsidian at another booth for .50 a lb. and got some of that. And we also picked up some bloodstone jasper for when we get better at knapping.

We camped in the desert in the back of a truck. I'm afraid I had the wiggles and kept waking up. There are too many rocks on the ground for tent camping though.

I took lots of photos. I'll post the knapping ones here. If you want to see some more they are over here. If we had stayed there longer it would have been fun to paint some desertscapes. We left Friday night and had to be back on Sun. Anyway, I'll go load the photos.

Chert

We went to Quartzsite AZ this weekend and who should we run into but our two good friends Sal and Aimee. And we bumped into them at exactly the same place that we saw them at last time we were in AZ.

While we were there we visited the knappers booth and picked up some chert for knapping. We also got some black obsidian and bloodstone from some other vendors. Our truck was a good deal heavier on the way home than when we left.

When I got home I went to get the fish food out of the freezer and saw the refrigerator door was ajar. That's right, we left the refrigerator open for 2 days while we were gone. Ugh.

New Arrows By Guy Taylor

Some more wooden arrows to oogle over. http://greenmanarchery.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-arrows-out-door.html Pretty darn cool. They are so much more vibrant out in the sunlight. Photos have their limitations. Most of the arrows have been delivered to their new owners. The rest will be picked up shortly I hope.

Atlatls

Our last meeting focused on atlatls and Tom gave me a piece of yew to carve into an atlatl. An atlatl is basically a primitive spear chucker used to throw 6 or 7 foot long darts. Some of our members are going to an atlatl festival in Vegas soon so they are all busy bees making lots of atlatl darts and trying them all out.

Archery Clan

I'm hoping to start a monthly meeting for people that want to work on their arrow making, bow making, flint knapping and archery gear. We already go to one in Pasadena every month, but I thought we'd get a lot more done and stay focused if we had one two weeks after the other one. I wanted something in Orange County CA so I wouldn't have to drive all the way to Pasadena. It will probably be at El Dorado Park, though I'd prefer Mile Square Park because they don't have the $5 parking fee. Well, they do, but they have free street parking. There is no street parking at El Dorado. But most of the people who said they might come live closer to Long Beach, so I may get outvoted.
If Sig comes we can work on gourd art and spoon carving too. But he works in the medical field so his schedule is all over the place. He gave me a spoon carving tool and I can't wait to get some green wood to try it out on.

Also I hope David will come. He lives in Laguna Beach, so either location is closer for him that Pasadena. Of couse if you are reading this and live near Anaheim and think you want to learn these skills, leave me a comment so I can make sure you know when the meetings are.

Making arrows

Our monthly Paleoplanet meeting got shifted to this Sunday because of conflicting events on the range. I had hoped to have some things finished to show to people this weekend, but the furniture rearranging, house cleaning, box sorting nightmare is taking much longer than I thought it would. I did get some new arrows started. They are painted and I added the cresting. Hopefully I'll get the finish put on them tomorrow so I can let it dry a day. There are six arrows and each one is different. So it's going to be both fun and challenging to pick out the feather colors.

I just signed up for Tagfoot. http://ping.fm/lfV6m Come see all my links and comments and my wishlist.

Want to join ping.fm too? Go to http://www.ping.fm.Use the code 'legendofping' and you could have the luxury of posting to all your blogs in one fell swoop like I do. Way more efficient than doing it one by one.

I'm not sure what 'ping my default' means but I guess I'll find out when I hit send.

The week sure went by quick. I had a lot more planned but didn't have the energy to do it. My hands are still sore from woodcarving, and so I've had to lay off the knitting and crocheting. I'm looking forward to the weekend. My daughter may visit. We'll see.

Come view my Flickr photo stream. Over 3000 photos I've taken are waiting there for your pleasure. http://ping.fm/3TTAi

I just signed up for Ping.fm to make social networking more effiecient.

Conejo Valley 3D Shoot

Just last Sunday we went to the Canejo 3D Shoot at Tapo Campground. Here are some photos.

Paleo Pasedena Oct 2007

The Pasedena gatherings are still going strong.

pottery

We just did our first campfire pit firing out in the desert near Aberdeen, CA. About half the pieces blew up. The sturdy more primitive pieces and the beads I made fared the best.