Hi Pat, there are currently no pictures of the entire process. The barks I'm processing right now have all been in stock for quite a few years. The elm bark is from freshly cut trunks. The bark is very easy to peel off. For the thick pieces, I left most of the bast on and put the pieces around a tube (2 - 4inch diameter plastic tube) and set them aside to dry. For the thinner pieces, I still peeled out the bast. The fresh bast is very fibrous and is great for weaving into cords. The Ainu have probably also made clothing from elm bast (but there are still more processing steps necessary).
I got the cherry bark from relatively large trees that had all been cut down for a few months. It was easy to peel the bark off as large slabs. I then dried the bark plates between wooden boards. Unfortunately, because of the large lenticels, the bark is not as perfect for work as the black cherry or the Japanese cherries in kabazaiku (the Japanese make very nice tea caddies and the l
so stuffout of cherry bark).
For cherry bark harvesting, Dustybear was there once too....
Recently I stumbled upon my bark supplies and have once again started to make them into quivers. I had tried some models before. But they are all given away to other people.
I'd like to cover another sheet or two with matching cherry bark pieces for backing and maybe a quiver ..... Right now I've made rings out of small narrow strips of the bark.
I also have elm bark for two or three quivers - let's see what I make for quivers out of that.
At least the elm bark solo is quite sensitive to moisture. It quickly becomes quite soft when it rains. I will impregnate it with tung oil or linseed oil.
The cherry bark is super waterproof!
Next is a quiver made of birch bark - the birch bark is from Latvia from a dealer at a craft market. In Scandinavia and the Baltic States there is an old culture in birch bark processing and especially the suitable birch trees to harvest the bark. In Germany, I have not yet run across any suitable birch trees.
With the next quivers I will make a few photos of the manufacturing process.