A Monday Morning That Feels Like a Monday Morning

I wound up working a few hours each day on the weekend. I normally try to enforce some time off on the weekend, but I spent days dealing with some really annoying malware and spyware infecting my computer during the end of last week. I finally got rid of the last of it on Saturday morning, but from Wednesday to Saturday, I lost a lot of productive time and felt like I needed to get back into the workshop.

On Saturday night, Lori and I went out to see the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra at the Arts and Culture Centre. It was a Christmas gift and my first time seeing an orchestra perform. It was pretty cool being able to see every note being played.

As far as work goes, I've got lots of little projects on the go. I have a few pieces of chert and caribou bone jewelry to finish. The sinew arrived over the weekend, so I can finish braiding my 70 foot line for the Tuktut Nogait bow backing. I've started tillering the bow this weekend. Tillering is the process of slowly removing wood from the belly of the bow and starting to bend the limbs. There are lots of little knots in the limbs that are slowing things down. It shouldn't be too bad when the cord backing is on - that will take a lot of strain off the wood, but for now I'm taking things really easy. Most of the work at this point is being done with files and cabinet scrapers.

I'm really keen to finish the bow, but I think I'd be better off getting the jewelry order finished up today. I've got a Craft Council meeting this week and a flintknapping demo at The Rooms to prepare for and I could really use a bit more space in my head to keep track of everything. I need to finish something today to make room for the new stuff. Oh yeah, we're also waiting for Staples to deliver a printer. We waited all day Friday for them to show up and they never did. Alledgedly, they'll be here sometime between 9-5 today to deliver it. Great. Trapped in the house waiting for the door. We get to start the week the same way we ended last week. If this post seemed rambling and without a point and gave you a little headache reading it, then that's because that's how my Monday morning feels.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Photo Captions:
First: Bone pins and Dorset Endblades that need finishing
Second: box of neatly packaged sinew
Third: The bow and 60 feet of braided sinew
Fourth: Files and Cabinet scrapers used for shaving down the belly of the bow
Fifth: The Tuktut Nogait bow grip at the moment