Aug 19 2007
Two New Creations
Nothing great to report. I’ve been gathering some nettle fibres for fishing lines, a carrying net and a fishing net. I have tested some new techniques for making willow basketry, since this was a crude attempt at a burden basket I will not post anything about the techniques I’ve tested them further and gotten better at it.
Both Patrick McGlinchey and Jon_R have recently been experimenting with coiled basketry and that has inspired me to give it a go. To start on this type of project I needed to make a needle first. This one is out of a thin, flat section of reindeer antler. I expect the thinness to be an advantage in this kind of work.
Hello,
I can’t wait to see a post about coiled basketry – this is something I would like to try myself.
Cheers,
Mungo
Fantastic needle. I just made a couple of bone needles last week and now have a much better idea what it takes.
Did you use a graver to cut the needle out of the antler?
Great pictures.
B
Thanks bushman
I used flint flakes as engravers to cut out the needle blank from the main piece, then I ground it even on a quartzite slate piece. The hole was made by scoring with a flake.
Keep in mind that these needles are far too big for ordinary sewing. The process is described here:
http://torjusgaaren.blogspot.com/2006/12/bone-needle.html
The needle in the tutorial there is for regular sewing by the way.
Yeah, that’s how I made mine.
Breaking one at the eye becomes much more heart-wrenching when you’ve spent the better part of the morning scoring the bone, cutting out the blank, shaping it, and then cutting in the eye–all with flint gravers.
Great stuff.
Thanks,
B