Back in the workshop

For the past couple of weeks I've been able to schedule a couple of days a week in the workshop.  I'm dreadfully far behind on orders and trying to get caught up again before the end of the fiscal year.  While I'm making progress in the workshop, I'll try to resume sharing photos and stories from Elfshot.  Here are a few of the first new pieces to come out of the studio.  They are knapped spear points based on PalaeoIndian artifacts from Alaska.

Spear point reproductions and reference drawings.

 Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Blog Post #1000

This is the 1000th Elfshot blog post and with it, I'm packing my bags in a different way.

Groswater Palaeoeskimo
Harpoon Head

I started this blog back in 2009.  Within the first couple of months I adopted the routine of publishing a new post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I liked the structured of it.  It forced me to write about something whether I was feeling it or not and sometimes the posts that I never would have thought to write turned out to be the ones that people responded most enthusiastically to.  Still, it was hard to maintain that schedule and with fieldwork and travel I would have to plan ahead and schedule weeks or even months of previously prepared posts (like this one) in order to maintain that Monday/Wednesday/Friday pattern.

On the downside, that create a lot of "filler" posts that were not necessarily on the major themes of this blog, which are archaeology, craft, and artifact reproductions.  My schedule, work, and interests change a lot through the year and when I'm working on some projects it seems like three posts a week isn't enough.  At other times it's a struggle to come up with content that is on theme and I end up posting weak or off-topic posts.

Groswater Endblade

Beginning with post 1001, I'm going to start going off schedule, but not off topic.  I don't know whether I'm going to blog more or blog less and I don't know when the next post will go up, other than it will be when I have something to say.

Thanks everyone that has tuned in so far. Hopefully I'll have some stories and photos from the field soon.

Cheers,
Tim

 Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Orders in progress

With Christmas deadlines looming, I have a soapstone pot and a Dorset Harpoon on the agenda this week.  Its good to see some pieces heading out the door; the Palaeoeskimo reproduction set that I showed in Friday's post is packed and on its way to MacEwan University in Edmonton.

 Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Another day in the workshop

Palaeoeskimo scraper reproduction in Newfoundland chert

Another day in the workshop is gone.  I've been plugging away at a few simple Palaeoeskimo tools to try to get back into the rhythm of knapping.  Its been so long since I've knapped at production volumes, that I need to turn the blisters on my hands back into calluses.  I spent most of the afternoon preparing tools and materials for an Open Minds session tomorrow.  I'll be helping grade 5 students make ground slate tools at The Rooms for the next three Tuesdays.  I need about a half day worth of preparation time ahead of the half day workshop.  Usually, I do the preparation the day before the workshop, so it always feels like an Open Minds session occupies two days of my work week.  Instead of waiting until next Monday, I'm going to try preparing my kit for next Tuesday when I get home from The Rooms tomorrow afternoon.  If I can get into the routine of finishing an Open Minds day with a fully stocked and ready to go kit, then future sessions should only feel like one day away from my regular workshop schedule, rather than two days.   

I don't think I showed this photo yet.  This the completed obsidian necklace that I was hafting last week.  Right now it's bound for Australia.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Slow return to the workshop

I'm slowly returning to the workshop after what seems like months away.  I did spend a bit of time working on projects in September, but between travel, office work, and NLAS responsibilities since then, its been impossible for me to schedule any time in the workshop, let alone put in a full day's work.  Hopefully that will change next week and I can get some orders filled before Christmas.  Its going to be a busy winter season making reproductions, if I can just make the time to get back into my studio.  I'm very grateful to have such patient clients.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

A busy week for the NLAS

Dorset Palaeoeskimo Endblades from
The Anstey Site, Twillingate

I've been home for a little over a week now and already the summer feels like a lifetime ago.  I'm taking babysteps back towards getting back into the workshop and the production side of Elfshot up and running again, but last week was all about the Newfoundland and Labrador Archaeological Society (I'm the current NLAS President).  Last week we had a Board meeting, an Executive meeting, a Planning Committee meeting, and a meet-and-greet at the MUNArch mixer.  Already this week we've issued a Press Release and done one quick VOCM radio interview about our big summer Community Collections Archaeological Research Project.

Photo Credit: Robert Anstey, courtesy of the Newfoundland and Labrador Archaeological Society

Adjusting to home life

I don't often get a chance to knap during the summer, but
 towards the end of the season this year, a geologist friend
brought me some Missouri chert that I couldn't resist trying.

The transition between the summer field season and the rest of the year can be challenging.  I don't know whether its more jarring to step out of my regular life in the spring or to be thrown back into it in the fall.  I'm not exactly sure how to explain what it feels like to be gone into the field for three or four months.  Its like taking all of your working hours in a year and lining them up end-to-end and then living them all in a row from June to September.  For those months, the only people you see are colleagues, the only places you go are to your workplace, and all conversations are work related.  The rest of the year is your home-life.  Fortunately, I like my summer work, so I look forward to it and miss it when its gone, but I also like my routines.  It takes time to settle back into my fall/winter patterns and judging by the backlog of e-mails and phone messages it should be a busy winter in the workshop.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Getting back into the workshop

Working with my hands again

So, Elfshot was waiting for me as soon as I got off the plane in St. John's last week.  I've been travelling a lot for the past couple of weeks and made a lot of promises to people that came due as soon as I got back.  I finished a final draft of the monster report I've been working on most of the winter and sent it up the line for comments late last week, so now Elfshot has become my priority.

Stone drills over copper pressure flakers

I have a trio of ground slate ulu making workshops with grade 5 students enrolled in the Open Minds program at The Rooms this month.  The first session was last Friday and I have another one tomorrow and then again in two weeks.  These are a lot of fun, but a lot of work.  I've added a few new drills with knapped bits to the roster.  They're not as authentic as the ground nephrite drills for making ulus, but their big advantage is that I can resharpen them during the session much easier than regrinding the nephrite bits sharp.

The first of many points to come

I also have a pair of pressure flaking workshops to prepare for this week.  Over the weekend I made a couple dozen brand new pressure flakers for the participants to use.  I need to make a couple arrows and knap a few assorted points for necklaces and other projects before Friday.  Its good to be busy, and I'm glad to have a few small projects on hand that I can finish up quickly and cross off the list.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Wednesday's Blog Post... Finally

Newfoundland Chert points and Endblades

Getting something up on the blog is the last thing I have to do today before I can call the workday done.  I've been working the past couple of days on a secret project that's pretty much done now.  Its a fun piece that I'll be able to talk about in a couple months time after its been delivered.  In the meantime there's still jewelry to be made and this weekend is the Annual General Meeting of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.  Its being held in St. John's this year and it will probably be my last CCNL AGM for a while.  Archaeological and Elfshot work has been preventing me from dedicating the volunteer time that committee work requires so I'm going to take a break.  I'm sure I'll be back once I get my work-life back under control.

These pieces will likely end up in a shop in Gros Morne.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Switching back to Newfoundland and Labrador Reproductions

Tray of Maritime Archaic Artifacts

Its back to making hafted stone tools from Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology sites today.  I have three government orders (two from Parks Canada and one from the Provincial Museum) for artifact reproductions that need to be completed and delivered by the end of the fiscal year, which is the Thursday after next.  I have several pieces for each order started or completed already, but as of right now I need to dedicate my schedule to completing the rest.

Lacing the last whip  with gut

Over the weekend, amid scheduled seminars and one big surprise party, I've wrapped up the Central Arctic set that has been my focus for the past couple of months.  There's still a little bit of drying to watch and final photos to take for my portfolio, but the build phase is pretty much over and I survived and all the pieces have survived, so I'm happy.  The last piece is a sealskin dog whip, which I'll profile in an upcoming post.

checking the hafts on barbed points

This morning, I'm printing patterns from reference photos and locating the raw materials that I'll need for for the next few pieces.  With the exception of three Dorset Palaeoeskimo knives that I'd like to finish by the weekend, I'm going to start with the most complicated pieces first.  I want to get the things with the most potential for unexpected challenges or that need the most drying time out of the way first and leave the safer, more familiar pieces until the end.  Plus, the new pieces are going to be fun - like turning some of these long barbed points from the Maritime Archaic site at Port au Choix into a 3 prong fishing spear.  I'm thinking that I might finally use some of that seal intestine that's been hanging over my head in the workshop for the last year as lashing material on some of these pieces.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Area Man Loses Sleep, Plans Fall Schedule

Artist's impression of me at 3:30 am

I'm settling back into my Newfoundland work routine, but my body is still on Calgary time. I don't know why I thought having coffee at 8:00 last night would be a good idea, it certainly didn't seem like a good idea at 3:30 in the morning when I couldn't sleep.

Its going to be a busy fall. I'm working on a wholesale jewelry order for a new customer in the heart of polar bear country right now. There will be a new set of Palaeoeskimo reproductions from one of the most northerly sites on earth. I can't wait to receive those artifacts and start working on them. I've got a couple suprises and one-of-a-kind pieces in the mix to keep things interesting. 

Dorset Palaeoeskimo Harpoon Head

I'll also be working on a couple articles with friends. We'll be revisiting and writing up the collections and previously unpublished material from a few interesting sites and collections found on Newfoundland's northern peninsula. 

Unfortunately, something had to give.  I'm not going to be attending the Craft Council's Christmas Craft Fair this year.  I'll miss being there and seeing everyone, but I'm afraid that I don't have room in my schedule to make enough new product to stock a booth.

Photo Credits:
1: Tim Rast
2: Latonia Hartery/Tim Rast

Flintknapper Schedules Work, Not So Good at Play

The order for Java Jack's is in the mail. I worked full days on Saturday and Sunday to get it finished and shipped before Monday morning. I need to spend today working on the Parks contract so that I have some progress to check on my next visit to The Rooms on Tuesday.

I work at home, so it feels like I'm always at work. Over the past couple of years I've tried to stick to a regular work routine, 9-5, Monday to Friday, just to keep from working all the time and to try to be on the same schedule as friends and family. From time to time, everybody has to work extra hours, but when you work at home your job is always around you so its really easy to work too much. After a few years of doing this, its became obvious that I'm in this for the long haul. A person can't work around the clock for the rest of their life, just because the work is always there. Its a marathon, not a sprint. If I don't schedule my evenings and weekends off, no one else will give them to me.

I guess I'm just trying to say that I don't normally work weekends and that since I did to get this one order out the door I'll give myself some time off later this week when my family comes to visit from Saskatchewan. My uncle Gary and aunt Marlene are going to be visiting for a few days from Regina. Gary and Janet (who was here last week) are my mom's siblings and this is the first time they've come to visit Newfoundland since I moved here in 1996, so its been a great excuse to get out and enjoy the summer a bit myself.

Photo Credits:
Top, screen grab from Java Jacks website
Middle & Bottom, Tim Rast

Photo Captions:
Top: Java Jacks, Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador
Middle: A pair of Fibre Optic earrings - there are lots of blues and green fibre optic jewellry en route to Java Jacks.
Bottom: The wall calendar I schedule my work and my life on.

Big Rocks First

A couple big pieces of my yearly schedule are falling into place this week and it reminded me of an interesting piece of Spam someone sent me a long, long time ago. It stuck in my head because it has some good solid rock packing advice in it. One of the important events that I need to schedule for 2009 is a rock run to collect more material before next winter.

Anyhow, the Spam -- I'll paraphrase it:

A motivational speaker is in front of an audience to talk about time management techniques and he has a big glass jar and a pile of fist-sized cobbles sitting on a table. He takes the rocks and puts them in the jar one at a time until he can't put any more in, and asks the audience; "Is the jar full?"

Everyone says "yes."

He pulls out a bag of gravel and pours the pebbles into the jar and they jiggle down between the big rocks and he asks again; "Is the jar full now?"

The audience is starting to catch on and say "um.. no probably not..."

Next he pours sand into the jar and shakes it until the sand fills it up to the top. He sets a glass of water on the table and asks the audience; "How about now?"

Everyone says "No!" and he pours the glass of water into the jar, filling it completely.

When he asks the audience what this illustrates, someone says "If you really look, you can always find more space to fit something in."

And the speaker replies, "No, it shows that if you don't put your big rocks in first, you'll never get them in."

===============

I think that's good advice, and you can apply it to all sorts of things in your life that need planning. I'm probably biased towards rock-based metaphors and the reason that I haven't forgotten it is that I'm always packing or repacking boxes of rocks. But as an analogy, its a useful way to visualize any problem that needs a bit of planning, from setting up a booth at a craft show to planning your annual schedule. Sometimes its good to stop and think about what the "big rocks" are in your life and make sure that you've made them the priority.