Assembled and Ready to Ochre Stain.

The line is sealskin and braided sinew

The composite culture harpoon is assembled now and I just have to wait for a bit of drying on the hide glue and lashings before adding a couple coats of red ochre paint to the whole thing.  The inspiration for most of the components at this point are predominantly Palaeoeskimo, with some Inuit influence on the icepick.  The ochre stain will change the look and feel of the harpoon a lot, it should be interesting.  For the paint, I mix my own ground ochre with a linseed oil, water and egg clear coat.  The client's sister raises chickens, so I used one of her hen's eggs to make the paint.  Hopefully the fully stained piece will be ready to show you on Friday. 

I use a simple paint recipe using an egg, water and linseed oil which I mix with red ochre as I brush it on.  The recipe is from Robin Wood's Blog.

Spruce, Sealskin, Sinew, Whalebone, Moose Antler, Chert, Hide Glue

Photo Credits: Tim Rast