Lost Stone Obsidian

I haven't been making a lot of jewelry lately, but I did do a quick repair on this necklace recently.  It is obsidian and was purchased from the Heritage Shop in Port au Choix.  I'm sending it back to its owner  in Ontario this evening.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Harpoon on the Wall

Derrick posted this photo of the harpoon's new home on his kitchen wall.  Great space for it - it looks awesome with his cabinets.

Here's the original concept drawing by Derrick, with a bit of ochre from the staining.

Photo Credits: 
1) Derrick LeGrow Jr.
2) Tim Rast

Ochre Stained Harpoon Finished

The composite harpoon that I've been working on for the past couple of weeks is done.  It features a tip-fluted box based endblade made from Newfoundland chert which combines Groswater and Dorset Palaeoeskimo characteristics.  The harpoon head is made from moose antler and is a mix of Groswater at the distal end and Late Dorset at the base.  The foreshaft and ice pick are whalebone.  The line is braided sinew and sealskin,  The main shaft is made from a recycled spruce Christmas tree with sealskin lashings.   The whole thing is covered in red ochre paint using eggs from the client's sister's chickens.  

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Award Winning Pie!

On Saturday night, we got together with a couple dozen friends for a pie themed party called Pie Fest 2012. Every person or couple had to bring a home made pie, which we sampled throughout the evening.  As the night went on, we voted for our favourite pie in four different categories; Best Overall Pie, Best Tasting Sweet Pie, Best Tasting Savoury Pie and Best Looking Pie.  There were 24 different pies, representing a mix of savoury and sweet.  The night's big winners were the Caribou Pie, Apple and Ginger Pie, Steak, Kidney, and Guiness Pie, and Lori's Black Bottom Chocolate Pie, which took home the prize for Best Looking Pie.

These are just the sweet desert pies.  The kitchen was full of savoury meat and vegetarian pies, as well.

  

This is my entry; a Pecan Pie.  Its only the second pie that I ever made.  The first carbonized instead of carmelized earlier in the day, but I had time to make a second, passable, pie.

This is Lori's Award Winning Black Bottom Chocolate Pie - Best Looking Pie - Pie Fest 2012, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Photo Credits: Elaine Anton

This needs more red

The ochre is looking good

I'm still ochre staining the harpoon.  I've been working on it in the basement, but the house renovations moved down into my drying space today and put me behind a bit.  I think we've passed the half way point on the renovations.  The clapboard is up on the front of the house and the city inspector was here this afternoon to look at the work planned for the back of the house.  We need 4 foot deep post holes for the deck, which would make a lot more sense in a part of the world with 4 feet of soil.

Unfortunately replacing that casement window took priority over my  own  painting and drying on the harpoon.

The renovations aren't complete enough to reveal, but you can see the shiny red clapboard above the new window in the basement.

 Photo Credits: Tim Rast

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

Harpoon gets its lashings

I was putting the sealskin lashings on the harpoon shaft today.  The shaft is a spruce Christmas tree, because the archaeologist that ordered it is also a huge fan of Christmas.  Its based on the Groswater Palaeoeskimo harpoon shaft from the bog at L'Anse aux Meadows.  The bindings are all hooded sealskin.  When the lashings shrink and dry, the whole thing will be covered in red ochre.

It has a two part socket, with a lashed brace piece scarfed into place.

A slight narrowing on the original wood shaft is interpreted as a place to secure the harpoon line to the main shaft.

A whalebone ice-pick is lashed to the end where a long sloping scarf joint was preserved on the L'Anse aux Meadows harpoon shaft.

 Photo Credits: Tim Rast