Fire Counter

I just added a counter at the bottom. If you need a free counter there is a link for it at the bottom of the page. I thought fire was an appropriate look for a blog on primitive tools and archery. Where would we be without fire? Cold, that's where.

Atlatl darts

I've decided to start making some atlatl equipment so I can join in on the fun. So when we were visiting friends in Silverado yesterday Guy spotted some cane that can work well for the long darts. We got home too late last night to do anything with them, but today I cut off all the excess branches with pruners, and cracked off the dried sheathing as best I could. Then I tied the whole bunch into a bundle to help it to dry more or less straight. I still have a long way to go but at least it's a start.

I've started carving two atlatls in the past. Who knows where they are now. So I need to keep an eye out for them or start a new one.

My Boyfriend the Fletcher

My boyfriend's archery blog is here: http://greenmanarchery.blogspot.com/
He's always making arrows with new combinations of feathers and cresting and shafts. As soon as he delivers one set of arrows he gets orders for 3 more. I wish he made enough doing that so he could quit his day job. But CA prices are so high you practically need 3 jobs just to have a normal life. Not even a life of luxury, just a life of paying bills on time and fixing your car when it breaks.

I've made some arrows, but I don't have the patience to make 12 things that match. So I'll leave the arrowmaking to him. I do make them for myself.

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.

More Arrows

Guy just finished two new sets of arrows and got them off in the mail. Another guy came by to get his 2 dozen arrows and ended up ordering 3 dozen more. Wow! There goes my social life. HAHA. It takes many hours to make a dozen arrows. Everything has to be done right and done 12 times over. The shape of the feathers, the trim on the shaft, the right tip, the right nock and so on. I've made a few dozen arrows myself and I find myself losing patience with it. So my hat is off to anyone that can make dozens of arrows.

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.