More and Father’s Day

I have been quite busy with a new puppy — NaturesPerspective blog for more info on that.

But before that I did a handful of arrowheads, including the largest I’ve done for my Father’s Father’s Day present:

This deep green arrowhead has a curve in it making it less of a ‘hunter’s point’ (which I’m trying my best to achieve each and every time) and more of an ornamental piece because I was going for size. It was over 2 inches long (lance point size) and made from a large Saki bottle bottom. The stone is Ruby Zoisite. It was shaped and painted to look like a redwood tree, whether I achieve this is up to the viewer. My dad liked it! and that’s all that’s important to me.

Happy Father's Day

Some other talismans I did turned out amazingly well. Some were gifts and others were for future sales:

A friend's Choice

Future Stocks

A friend's gift? Or inspiration?

Finally, it was requested of me to make a talisman by a local who lost out during the ‘Friends of Villa Grande’ silent Auction. I traded it for signatures to authenticate the “No trespassing”  sign I won at the auction. I hope it does what she needs it to do:

Chain of Fate Point with goldstone

Fish Fetish

I found a rock at the Villa Grande Beach that I had to transform. So for my Ochossi Aniversary here is the almost finished product, just needs some blessings and prayers.

Found stone. Flaked tail from black Obsidian.

Friends of Villa Grande — Talisman

There was an Auction this past weekend to raise money for the FoVG. I wanted to do a talisman for the auction it didn’t matter if it made money or not, I just wanted to contribute, something and here is what I did: 

Lucky River for FoVG

I think it was bought for 30 dollars: 

Wine bottle with Goldstone

New Talismans! Russian River Wild Steelhead Society — RRWSS –

So these are the ones I did for my friends. If these were to be sold, I would have to charge probably ten dollars more because of materials. That’s a wierd thing to think about,  you put more money into something and therefore you have to charge more. I don’t like thinking that way. Talismans should be affordable, the cost should be what I put into them from my heart making them priceless. But the world doesn’t work that way. Though I don’t truly put any less effort in anyone talisman at any one time, if there’s any inequality it would be a mood thing. So materials is truly a secondary thought but in the real world it’s still money.

Friends Inspired Talismans

 Segue: Most traditional societies the ”Holder’s of Knowledge” be they medicine men/women, shaman, chief, doctors, hunters, etc. charge a fee of some sort for their work. Yes the fee might be a chicken or a pack of cigarette, or a hundred bucks but always something. The outlawing of Psychic phenomena/practices that occurred in the early 1900s really changed the thinking of modern ‘Miracle’ workers, — it was/is illegal to charge money in the United States. This belief system has actually infected the mindset of those who practice such things in the U.S.A. to the point that it is common to hear, “If you have to pay it’s not real”  (not that this has effected on-line and phone psychic-hotlines…) even by practioners and clients alike (though isn’t there some kinda fee even when free..?). Mind you that Churches all across the country and things such as televangelism have backing by the government to charge for upkeep and “charity”.

My  point is there’s a lot of effort needed to deal with others problems. Dealing with problems one must speak in a way that a client can understand. If someone actually can help another with their problems the helper should be paid for their effort — that is the true tradition.  And if you’re looking for help, learn what tradition speaks clearly to you addressing the problems you feel you are having and if you can get help from  the tradition be cautious of the Con but be willing to pay.

One last thing; Russian River Wild Stealhead Society, RRWSS, Dinner and Raffle this Saturday April 17th! Get your tickets From Kings at Guerneville, CA. Here is my Talisman for the Raffle:

"River's Point" with Moonstone

Making For People I know

When I started taking the arrowheads I pressure flaked and decided to put them into talismans, I for the most part, was just doing them for the people I know and love. For me its the arrowheads themselves that I enjoy making (will always be my favorite part). But for those I love, I had to develope a better way to show them how special I thought they were than wrapping them in wire (maybe if I had some silver/sterling or gold wire… but that’s a whole other technique to learn). Plus I was looking for something uniquely ME.

Originally I thought a broken arrow was the way to go, thinking it was as if the talisman was made from a used arrow at least metaphorically. So I snapped a dowel into parts. Problem is where the dowel snapped it was pokey. People really couldn’t wear them. I also quickly figured out that I need to file down the edges of the arrowheads themselves, well, because glass is sharp.

Then as I painted for specific people, color and patterns would pop in my head. All honesty, the simpler the pattern the better the overall appearance in my opinion. But every once in a while something spectacular would show up. Wierd thing is that certain color glass begs me to certain designs, don’t know why — for instance all my clear glass bottles have ended up with a Flamed design like one would find on a classic motorcycle, except in my case with a shaky hand-ha. But I wouldn’t have tried color combination or patterns without the people I know coming to mind.

Next, the wrap jobs used to be pretty minimal because I didn’t want to waste the wire and I figured my friends would understand. That’s changed too;  right now I think more wire the better, for the most part. Only time that I’d say otherwise is when the wire starts rolling off either the arrowhead or the shaft/dowel or hides the paint job. I probably wouldn’t have started wrapping as tightly if I hadn’t seen people’s talismans falling apart.

Now the soldering did start because of the wire knots. I found them pokey and couldn’t figure out a way to hide them. Traditionally wrapping was done with sinew and sap or glue made from  organic materials of a kill. If I had gone traditional in thought it would have demanded a whole other learning curve for me. And one of my main idea using glass bottle bottoms is recycling and combining new with the old, the modern with the ancient, elder wisdom with my own idiocies-ha.  When people started asking me if I would sell the talismans I had to figure out a way to hide the knots. Then i had to figure out a way to make the solder more than a piece of tin/lead and flux. Once again the people I love came to mind as color and meaning of color to people came to me in the form of beads. Lot of us make bead necklaces. But the blessing of what one bead, be it a semi-precious stone or the color of the sky piece of glass means to  people… Beads became an easy decision and an easy way for me to put my thoughts and prayers into every piece I make.

Simple fact is my friends and family are my inspirations. So now I’ve made a rule that for every 7 talismans I make, I will make one talisman for my muses, to show me how THEY influence the art, the  prayer and make me and my artwork evolve.

That was my plan this week because I had to finish the talisman for (for another friend) the Russian River Wild Steelhead Society’s raffle this coming weekend. So I got together all the arrowheads I had made and started putting them together. Only instead of making Talismans with a general prayer in mind representing my art and thoughts for the masses, I ended up making 6 Talismans for a bunch of people I know. Whoops!

They turned out real nice though. One I want to keep for myself — though the color, pattern, and bead was all for another. Which means I can’t keep it – Ha. Its a good thing.

 Pictures on the way when the sun comes out again — Ha!

Thanks all!

Happy Birthday Special Order

Happy Birthday Cecilia!

I hope you like the Talisman.

The Arrowhead actually gave me some problem as I was trying to go for a curvy heart-like arrowhead. I wanted it as close to perfect as I could get it. Someone tried to explain to me that perfect doesn’t make for great art. Well, I will say that the experience of the trials makes for a powerful talisman. I think for every glass bottle that snapped on me made for that much more powerful prayer and gift of the Talisman. I  can only hope that those thoughts translate through the talisman itself. I do really like the Soldering and Jasper part of the Talisman and the color scheme can’t really get better in such a simple fashion – Yay Colombia and their flag!

Thanks again!

So I sold my very first arrowhead

I’m not being or even trying to sound humble; I hadn’t expected it so soon. It actually surprises me that anyone would spend money on something that I enjoy doing — no matter how much effort (and enjoyment) I put into the talismans. But Thanks to The Green Arcade I’ve sold my first. I’m not sure which one sold yet though I have my guesses.

If the person who bought it comes to this site, THANK YOU soooo very much for showing an appreciation for what I’m trying to do. It pleases me to know that I can gift my art and hopefully a piece of my spiritual pursuits, in the most basic form, to you.

I have met another who has also showed interest in buying one. It’s just a complete shock to me. I know this is what I wanted but wow!

I’m working on more today. I have an idea for one that I might put up for an auction/raffle for Russian River Wild Steelhead Society, which in itself is a scary thought. This event is being held at the Sportsman Club at Duncan Mills, (north bay ) CA on April 17th. I believe the tickets for the dinner and event is 40$ for nonmembers, 35$ for members. It’s a good group already putting their money to good use including raising steelheads from egg to smolt in the classroom to get kids interested in conservation.

Lastly on the bottom of the Quiver page I’m gonna post the arrowhead I made for my graphic designer. I’m really proud of it!

Thanks again!

AAA

First Ones for Green Arcade Bookstore

Green Arcade Bookstore, San Fran

These are my first Talismans for Green Arcade Bookstore (purchasable). For close-ups on individual Talismans Please check The Quiver page and soon the Charms and Prayers page that these talismans have inspired:

The work of a friend.

The steps in making my glass arrowhead talismans is filled with trial and tribulations; Glass snapping in half, Glass embedding itself into one of my fingers, Step Fractures, Notching, Shaping, Painting, Creating Concepts and imbuing them into glass.

The prospects of selling these talismans is equally filled with trial and tribulations. It’s easier for me to  make 6 arrowheads and forego sending them to “Green Arcade” Bookstore at all. Or to tell people that I’m refining my techniques before I attempt to sell them.

Then one day you (I) decide that maybe there’s something to this whole idea. And you start thinking, how much do I charge; Five dollars an Hour + couple dollars here and there for supplies? And how do you go about doing this? You need a Site (thanks Mike), a tag, card, business card or something or…

So you ask a friend for help. I have such a friend who lives  thousands of miles away in Florida. We met on-line on a mutual interest site and found that we understood each other’s concepts and, even better, attitudes. I find out he is a professional graphics designer, in an era where graphics design is floundering in the workplace (as all jobs seem to be presently).  When he offered to help me put together Rack Cards and make me a few Signs and Banners, it pushed the whole idea of selling my Talismans to actually having to do it! Ach!

Here are the cards(almost final draft) that will come with every Talisman, front, back and the inside:

Front and back.

The Inside

Thanks Soj! AKA George Bull.

The Beginning of the Talismans

I’ve always been intrigued by all the old arts of wilderness survival. With the hundreds of thousand of years of knowledge in man alone (excluding what fauna and flora teach), there really is only three basic techniques needed to survive as a human in nature: Knot tying, Fire-making (very much part of Knot tying), and tool making, specifically Flint knapping or chipping. It is said, if you learn how to knap/chip rock you will always have a kitchen drawer of supplies where ever you go in the wild. 

We get archeology magazine. In 2008 september/october issue there was a great article on Arrowheads made by indigenous Australians… Made out of glass. The beauty of these glass pieces (stolen by a local male bowerbirds to attract the opposite sex) called Kimberly points, sent me in a dizzy of Internet searches on how to make arrowheads from glass. With my wife supporting my new found hobby, (she bought me books and an incredible DVD, a necessity without someone to show you  how, even with You tube classes on the Net, Called “caught knapping” with Craig Ratzat), I began my experiment and journey into making glass arrowheads from the bottom of bottles. 

What better way to spend an afternoon, drinking beer then chipping the glass… I wouldn’t recommend doing it on the same day, as chipping and or knapping is a blood-sport. Experts can make an Arrowhead or a cutting tool just by banging rocks together literally, it’s not easy but early man (and neanderthals) everyone knew how, though I’m positive even hundred thousands of years ago there was Masters (maybe I’ll write a blog about why Myth-Busters missed the “point” when dealing with whether stone arrowhead or a sharp stick were more efficient in the kill… their conclusion was they were about equal and since sharpening a stick was faster it was better… not).  Antler’s and eventually copper was used to chip rock or to refine their edges. I started out using a piece of coat hanger as my flaking tool… through experimentation I found out that the modern wire Hangars were too hard to be efficient in flaking glass, so I moved to a thick gauge copper wire (actually its wire I found on the side of the road by a telephone-pole). The experts  use even thicker gauge wire than that. some day i really want to try antler– its supposed to have a lot more give. 

 Too hard you ask? 

Chipping and even flaking  in some ways gives the wrong impression/visualization of what is actually being done to the glass (or flint, chert, obsidian, quarts, jasper,etc). I like to think of it as peeling the glass. Without getting into the actual process, imagine if you create a little lip on the edge of the glass and you peel it back like opening Tupperware or a plastic container of yogurt, over and over and over again in layers. Therefore you don’t want a material that is harder than the glass itself but a tool that just grasps the lip. 

I’m still learning. I’m not great yet but I consider it my artwork. I have ups and downs and days where the glass snaps in half or jabs deep into my thumb(ha). But here is a few of the talismans I’ve made for people over this first year. Hopefully I’ll add more as I make more.