Museum Bow

[BowEd]

Many examples of different tools,weapons,and accoutrements in that display of Victors.Chokers,breast plates,and shields.Looks like very nice work.Would'nt you say bows should be displayed on 2 pegs 2 to 3 foot apart horizontally against the wall for display?In fact most of those shaft type items should be.
I'm donating a self bow to the local museum here sometime but will tell them exactly the way it should be displayed.We had fox and osage tribes in this area.

[simson]

What a nice display! would like to see that in person.
Sorry for that break and good luck for repair.

[Marc St Louis]

Victor was quite prolific.  I took about a dozen pics of his work years ago and posted them on the old PA forum.  Here is another photo of his stuff

[upstatenybowyer]

Very cool. What's that thing with the claw, I believe it's number 17?

[sleek]

Very cool. What's that thing with the claw, I believe it's number 17?

Back scratcher?

[Marc St Louis]

No not a back scratcher although you should make one like it, try it and let us know how it works 

The aboriginals, up here anyway, knew that at a gathering there were those that would try to dominate so they had a system that you could only speak when you were allowed, in this case holding the talking stick.  Here is a menu of the items

[Marc St Louis]

By the way, the description for item 15 is one of those that Victor tried to get the museum to change.  It was not a flyswatter but I don't remember what he told me it is supposed to be.

[Philipp A]

thanks for sharing this Marc, very interesting. 48" is a tough bow to make from HHB without significant set, so he did a great job until someone wrecked it. I like the quills on the bow as well.

All the other artifacts look great as well.

Cheers,

Phil

[BowEd]

Marc...Interesting post Marc.Back when I was  buck skin rendezvousing I made many of the same things Victor shows of his work.The holder of the talking stick makes sense from what I know and have read about those type items.I'm sure Victors' significance of his staff was for something else but I used mine as a marker outside a lodge's door at large camps to let people know where I was.Since teepees did'nt have windows....lol.Although Victors' people probably did'nt live in teepees though.The staff I made is of ash with a Hudsons' Bay emblem laced into it and almost 7' tall.My fly swatter was a buffalo tail looking type quirt to the right.I still got a 12' teepee myself and have shown a little of what I made occasionally on the primitive skills section.

[Hawkdancer]

Re:#15, I vaguely remember reading that the Alqonquin nation made ornate " coup sticks",  also made rather fancy lacrosse sticks.  Could be either, possibly another talking stick, or lodge marker.  It is a nice piece! And a beautiful collection!  Too long for a fly swatter!   Time to restudy anthropology and ethnology of Native American  people!
Hawkdancer

[Marc St Louis]

Yes it could be a lodge marker

I finished the repair using hide glue, didn't want to use a modern glue on the bow.  It looks OK but you can easily see the break on close examination, if you know what to look for.  I did a bit of scraping on the belly to see if the ridges of the splinters could be removed, just a couple passes to see what it would look like.  I used an Obsidian scraper but stopped right away as the contrast between the patina and the wood was too visible.  It will have to stay that way to try and preserve it's original look

[Hawkdancer]

It looks pretty good, Marc.  Hopefully, it stays in the display case after this!  Any attempt to hide the break would change the authenticity?
Hawkdancer

[BowEd]

Yes...That's really too bad that happened to that bow.It's a real wall hanger now.Very nice closer up pictures of the quill wrap work though with I'm sure natural pigments used that look pretty bright colored yet over the time period.I have quill wrapped leather fringe before with tolerable results but embroidery type quill work takes more practice then what I've given it.
Victor was a very prolific fella and I'm sure a lot of knowledge has disappeared now from his death.