Archery the Old Fashioned Way

Archers warming up.

Closing court. Handing out the awards.

My SCA friends had a big archery event on Sat. and I thought I'd share some of my photos. I wish I'd thought to have someone take my photos shooting my self bow that Richard Saffold made.

Wand shoot.  Yellow is five, blue is 3 and nothing else counts.

A blown self nock.  This is why we reinforce them with horn.

Crossbow and bolts.

Women and Archery

I'm so thrilled that the Paleoplanet group, that used to be so anti-women, is now over it and teaching women and girls to make bows. And a lot more women and girls are coming out and digging in because of the exposure to the movie Hunger Games and the movie Brave that comes out in 2 days. I haven't heard a man in our group make a sexist remark about women making bows in a long time. And I see that as great progress.

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.

Archery

We ran into some friends at the archery range yesterday. First Amanda happened by after her practice.  Then later in the day we saw Sal and Aimee.  Sal was cleaning a bunch of turkey feathers. Kathy and her husband came by to talk about the Brave event next weekend. We will be doing demos of bow making and such. See the previous post for details on that event.

I got to shoot my bow for awhile before my numb fingers got the better of me. And the day was beautiful.  Flowers blooming, birds singing, lots of people walking dogs, jogging and using the casting pond.