Monday, May 30, 2011

Baggataway Sticks & Wooden Ball





In preparation for the upcoming History Meets The Arts art show in Gettysburg Pa, I and Chris Hays have made these Baggataway sticks and Wooden ball. These sticks are based from original examples at the Native American Museum in Cody Wyoming. These sticks are made from Ash they were steamed and hand bent using my leg as a brace.I used blackened rawhide as the loops and bindings as seen on the originals. These Incorporate some floral carvings, along with pigment filling in the carvings. The sticks these were inspired by are 19Th century in provenance. 
  We also decided to make a wooden ball to go along with the sticks using a Cherry knot. I can tell you handcarving a wooden ball without the use of a Lathe is harder then it looks.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Burl Pipe & Carved Twisted Stem

 


My latest creation, after many long hours I finally completed this piece. The grain in the burl simply is amazing.  The bowl is pewter lined as is the original. The Pipe bowl is copied from a original in the Splendid Heritage collection while the original has lost its stem over time, It gave me the opportunity to have full control over its creation. I chose to go with a twisted stem I used cedar for the choice wood due to its relative softness which helped immensely with the carving of the meandering twist. I also took the liberty in ageing the stem after a final burnishing and polish of the stem the two pieces were married to each other and make a exquisite piece. As of late I have been expanding my abilities and working with wood I have found to be immensely enjoyably. Twisted pipe stems have had there place within many tribal regions of North America, Used by the Iroquoian  peoples in the east to the Sioux in the west and almost every tribe in between. I have found that many of these stems were made with Cedar and Ash as the choice woods. Often the stems design and complexity out shine the pipe itself.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Baggataway and The Great Lakes style lacrosse sticks

Hello welcome to our blog. I quess this is as good as any place to start. I've recently become enamored with lacrosse and its history and the tools of the game. I recommend reading American Indian Lacrosse(little brother of war) by Thomas Vennum great read and very informative in fact here is a short clip from Youtube with Thomas Vennum speaking on the subject http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBgmriMS7v8. I wanted to share some pictures of the processes involved in the making of these sticks and some originals for reference