Primitive Projectiles

There seems to be a common theme to the subjects and activities that fascinate me. Here is a brief outline of the criteria necessary:

-It needs to be reasonably involved and/or complex
-A relatively high level of skill should be involved
-I should be able to learn it on my own, or at least without much guidance
-There should be little if any probability that anyone could ever make any money doing this
-If there is any practical application to developing the skills involved, it probably has gone obsolete about a century ago

I am also apparently susceptible to, as one of my ex-girlfriends put it: "The quintessential male near-obsessive  urge to throw things".


So, considering all this, it shouldn't be too surprising that I have a long standing fascination with making and using simple range weapons (for targets). In college I started making boomerangs. Pictured here is the first one I made and still my favorite:

 Last summer I made a sling and spent hours happily flinging rocks across an empty baseball field

This year I decided that the time was right to try something I've been wanting to do for a long time: Build a Longbow. I used Red oak with a muslin backing.I finished it with Tung oil. The handle is wrapped with leather. It measures 70' nock to nock when unstrung. I have no idea what my draw weight is. Here is my bow when strung...

                                       

... and unstrung

 Here's a close-up of my top nock

 I decided that the plain muslin backing was a little dull, so I painted it.

Here's some close up of the handle and arrow shelf

I'm shooting carbon fiber arrows that were made by a company that hasn't paid me to endorse them. My quiver is made out of the leg of an old pair of khakis. Not very interesting looking, but functional. I almost showed you my target, but it looks like what it is: A large cardboard box stuffed with more cardboard with a target drawn on it.

 I did, however, make myself a nifty armguard out of scrap leather

I wanted to have a cool picture of me firing an arrow, looking all keen-eyed and dangerous-but with no one else to hold the camera, this is as close as I could get

 When I went to retrieve a stray arrow, I found this little guy. His form isn't too bad, but I think he needs to get his elbow up.

I've been practicing for a few months now. I think my aim is getting better...

The Double Tap

 Last  year I was commissioned to make a tap handle for Cooperstown's largest and best loved Belgian-style brewery for their annual event Belgium Comes To Cooperstown. This year In celebration their fifteenth anniversary, Brewery Ommegang asked me to carve two more for them. My instructions were that the handles should be Mayan in theme (due, doubtlessly to the impending apocalypse), incorporate the Roman numeral "XV" and possibly look aged. other than that, I was given complete autonomy and a more or less reasonable deadline. Here is what I came up with:

 For the first one I thought that I'd play with the idea of hieroglyphs.I designed a series of abstracted symbols for beer ingredients, the brewing process and Ommegang itself.

 The piece is crowned with the Ommegang "O" and a version of the Ommegang Lion. I was hoping it would look a bit more like glyphs of Jaguar

 The Ancient Mayan Glyph for Hops:

 Side View:

 A drop of water Glyph:

 Ommegang is a bottle conditioned ale, so I commemorated that with a pouring bottle and cork:

 The four Mayan faces around  the bottom panel symbolize the fact I needed something cool looking down there:

 Back Top- This one depicts the fermenting tanks of the brewery, A goblet (which is the only way to enjoy a fine Belgian ale!) and the Ommegang double diamond.:

 The Roman numeral for fifteen. I wanted to work it into the shaft of the handle rather than crowning with it so the whole piece wouldn't look so blocky

 It's hard to tell but this is brewer's yeast. I defy anyone to come up with a better made up Mayan glyph for yeast! i'ts much harder than it sounds:

 Barley, on the other hand was easy:

 And finally the glyph for sugar. Yeast eats the naturally occurring sugars, and thus fermentation. I am well aware that sugarcane isn't involved in the process it's next to impossible to represent that abstract a concept in wood relief.. I claim artistic license!:

Here's the whole thing again the finish is done by my smoke process and accented with gold paint:

 For the second tap I wanted to create one of those terrific blocky figurative carvings. I settled on Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent because he's probably the most iconic of the Mayan symbols. Also, I think he looks cool. to age this piece, I first painted it with acrylics. I then sanded away most of the paint and smoked it up. If I had the time I might have also buried it for a month.Quetzalcoatl is always depicted as having five plumes or tails. I couldn't find out why.

Here is the "XV" on Quetzalcoatl's headdress. If I could have  done one thing differently, I would have repainted the numerals so they stood out more. I told the good  folk at Ommegang they were free to do so. I hope they have.

 A close up of Quetzalcoatl's face:

Well there you have it! Hope you enjoyed

Arizona: A Photo Essay....With Photos!

 I have been fortunate in my travels to see many beautiful places, both man-made and natural. among the natural wonders there is something particularly enchanting about the austere rugged beauty of the Southwest I think if I lived out here I would be whip-thin and permanently sun-baked brown as a lizard.  The land here makes me incredibly reluctant to come indoors. Instead of trying to describe it to you with words that really do not do it justice,I will instead post a selection of amateur photos that again really don't do it justice  If you happen to be interested in what I had to write you can always visit this selection from my other blog:Tourist Monkey.This is what I wrote last time I was here and I think it holds up. This post, though I'm going to try to limit myself to captions 

The Sphinx In Peralta Canyon

This is actually the front lawn of the house where I'm staying. All of it looks like this.

Cliff Chipmunk. This is his species, not his name.

Weaver's Needle, Peralta

You're Welcome, Ladies!

The Baboon's Head, Peralta Canyon

Faces are everywhere. It's really the most bizarrely anthropomorphic landscape.  

Agave (I think)

Hoodoos on the March

This is apparently called a Tree Lizard. they are called this because they are never anywhere near trees.

I like the strange candelabra shapes of Saguaro 

Note the Saguaro in the front imitating the rocks

Cacti should not look this cuddly

Saguaro Lake

The bones of a giant

Great Tailed Grackle: A serious contender for the All Southwest Weird Noise-Making title

Mesquite tree ambling along the Salt River