Monday, June 17, 2013

Hello, everybody!
As has become normal, I apologize for not posting more often. This dial-up internet access severely limits what I can do on the internet. For instance, when we had DSL in Anaheim I used to visit about a half dozen news sites each morning and was able to keep fairly well informed about what was happening in the world (nothing good, I can assure you). Now I can only get one site to load and when I click on an article to go deeper than just the title and teaser blurb it will not load. I am woefully uninformed now.
Oh well, I'm still loving where I live, regardless of internet challenges.  
I did an interesting set of arrows recently. A fellow had been getting his arrows made by another arrowsmith who passed away last year. He decided to give me a try to see if I can fulfill his requirements.
No word yet on how he likes the arrows but I thought you'd like to see one aspect of them.
Some states require that the hunter's name be on the arrows he uses. Here is how that was done on this gentleman's previous arrows: 
 
Now, my calligraphy with a Sharpie marker surely leaves something to be desired so here is what I did on the new arrows (I've blocked out a portion of the gentleman's name to protect his privacy):
 

 In addition to the owner's name I also put down the spine of the particular arrow and the total weight of the arrow. Forgive me for boasting but I think it came out pretty good.
Something else on these arrows...
Different arrowsmiths have different artistic styles. That's what makes all this interesting and fun: no two people make them the same. The fellow who made the earlier arrows really liked cresting with lots of lines, many more so than I typically use. The customer wanted to reproduce the cresting on his new arrows because the pattern has come to be associated with him with his friends and at the local shoots he attends.
Well, that was just too bad for me. I can assure you that after making two dozen arrows plus two flu-flus, totaling 676 little black lines, I am heartily sick of little black lines!

If you want little black lines on your arrows... don't worry, I'll get over it and be happy to make more.

Happy archery!