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.

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

Conejo Traditional Archery Shoot

Paleoplanet members that won an arrow. (Back row: Sander in the blue shirt, then Lisa, Benson, Sal and Aimee. (Front row: Seth and Guy).

We had a rockin' time at the Conejo Traditional Shoot. The weather was so much more user friendly than the Chamberlain shoot a few weeks ago. It was hot but not scorching hot during the daytime.  Nights were ideal for camping.  We had the biggest moon of the year rising over the hills on Saturday night while we had our pinecone fire going. Then on Sunday our archers cleaned house in the awards department with Guy Taylor of Greenman archery walking away with first place in the self bow category.  You don't have to make your own self bow to enter that division, but he did in fact make the bow and the bamboo arrows. He usually doesn't even keep score. He just enjoys the shoot.  Well, this time he kept score and walked away with first prize, which was a beautiful trophy arrow made by one of the Conejo club members. Other members won too, but I can't keep it all straight in my head. So I took a photo instead.

Arrows at the Green Man Archery booth.

Benson with his trophy arrow.

Paleoplanet members camping together.

Guy Taylor claiming his archery prize. The man in the middle made all the trophy arrows.

Guy wins a custom trophy arrow.

Jack wins for being the youngest.

Ken and Jack get ready for the Sunday shoot.

Sal and his trophy arrow.

Sal shakes hands.

Sander tries out Sal's box drum.

Chamberlain Ranch Shoot 2012

I got to sleep in a bed again last night after five days of camping at the Chamberlain Ranch Shoot. Even so, I didn't sleep well. I tossed and turned and had to get up in the middle of the night to take some Ibuprophen for my sore muscles. I was overly tired I think. I had a lot of dreams. Then after 6 AM I pretty much woke up every half hour so I just gave up and got up about 8 AM. It's good to be home and I have lots of photos to post, but we still have to unload all the inventory from the truck.  My boyfriend is still asleep. He's the one that did the three hour drive home, so I'm sure he's more tired than I am.

Thank goodness our friends Aimee, Sal, and John S. helped us tear down and get everything back in the truck or we would have been there another hour at least.  By then my back was too sore to be of much use. I'm really out of shape. By Sunday morning my back, left shoulder and right knee had had about all they could take, and I didn't even hike the 3 archery routes like most everyone else did.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time. I just need a day to rest.

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.

January Paleoplanet Meeting is Moved To February

Guy makes a bow while David looks on.

Guy and Sal work on projects.

Guy's shave horse that he made proves to be useful indeed.

We welcome families.

I just found out our February Paleoplanet gathering on Sunday has been moved to March 4th because of a marathon, plus we are still having the regularly scheduled meeting the third Sunday of March.

Here are photos I took at the January gathering in Pasadena CA.

Chamberlain Ranch Shoot in April 2012

I may get to go to the Chamberlain Ranch Shoot. Oh goody! I haven't been in years but this year we are getting a cat sitter I hope. It's a 3-D archery shoot over hill and dale on a private ranch. If you go, find us at the Greenman Archery booth. My boyfriend will be there either way, but hopefully I'll get to go too this time.

I wish I could buy my boyfriend a new kilt for it here: http://www.utilikilts.com/store/kiltsaresexy 

One year another archer in a kilt had a booth right across from us. He made leather quivers. Hope he is there too. Kilts and archery just go so well together.

Painting a Green Man Banner

Here are some photos of me painting the banner. I'm using fabric paints because I want to be able to wash this if necessary. I hope to finish it early tomorrow so we can heat set it before we use it on Saturday.

This is what it looked like yesterday.

This was this afternoon. I've gotten all the man shapes done

This was as far as I got before the sun went down.

Busy Week

Right now I'm painting a banner for the archery booth with the Green Man on it. Friday is Guy's birthday (Friday the 13th). Saturday there is an SCA archery event. Sunday is the Paleoplanet gathering in Pasadena and a birthday dinner.  Sheesh, when it rains it pours. That ought to keep me busy.

You can barely see the drawing on the banner. But you can at least see what size it is.

.