Here's Something Different

A few years ago I saw some antique Persian arrows up for sale on eBay. I couldn't afford to bid on them but they were so beautiful I just had to capture the picture on the auction.
Recently, in response to people asking me what to do with the bamboo shafts I have, I made a couple arrows based on those old Persian arrows.

When the cat decides to help sometimes there isn't much you can do but humor him.

Details:

I used craft acrylic paint for the yellow crown, for the flowers, and for the black and gold lines around the shafts. The flowers were outlined with a crow quill pen and appropriate ink. Thanks to Fayme for suggesting the outlining, it really made a huge difference in how things looked.

The nocks were hand made from bone I got from PetSmart. To fix them to the shaft I made a little tenon on the base of the nocks and glued that down into the hollow bamboo shaft.

Because none of my choppers were going to give me the fletching shape I wanted I broke out the feather burner for its first ever use.

I was in a little bit of a hurry to take these to an event last Sunday so I didn't wrap the leading edge of the feathers with silk. When I take more time on future arrows I'll definitely do that step.

Now all I need to do is figure out a way to make a nice ornate head suitable for a presentation arrow...