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Paleo crafts

Tools & Technology

Negative Hand prints, air brushed

Using a simple mouth air brush to spray mineral pigments over hand shapes

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Friction Fire, Bow Drill

Bow drill

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Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) drill on madrone base

Friction Fire, Hadza Style

Friction Fire with
yucca sticks
(Yucca filamentosa)
Origin: American Southwest

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Punch bowl pottery


Mount Soledad clay
punch bowl decorated with rope made from New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax)
fully 
dried, and example of cup made from the same clay after it was fired in an open fire.

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Venus Figurine

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Flint knapping

Oldowan Rock breaking

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Honey Harvest, PB

Cordage

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Coconut 
sennet

Palm Leaf

New Zealand flax

New Zealand flax

Palm leaf raffia

(Washingtonia robusta)

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Red Cedar Paddle

Locating red cedar log in river Olympic Peninsula, WA






 

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splitting the log with an axe and stone hammer,

carrying the blank home

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carving the paddle

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finished red cedar paddle

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Cochineal

(Dactylopius coccus) these bugs are the source of precious red color and thrive on locally growing Opuntia cochenillifera and many other Opuntia species.

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Cochineal harvest and Dying

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Dyeing Sonoma sheep wool with cochineal , using alum as mordant.

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Osage Orange Bow

Maclura pommifera, osgae orange, hedge apple, bois d'arc, best wood for flat bows in North America.

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Bullroarer

also made from osage orange , this Stone Age musical instrument was made by humans on all continents.

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a much lighter version made from Douglas fir

Hadza bows carved from California bayleaf, bent after heating over coals and treated with bee's wax

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Hadza Bows (Ko'owa)

Hadza Axe (Ato'wa)

blade: forged steel from recycled broken crow bar

handle: Terminalia wood from Hadza land

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Bow with yucca fiber string

Mojave yucca fiber

Yucca schidigera

Manzanita wood

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St Ives Potter's Wheel

First bowl thrown since we transported this wheel from Basel, Switzerland to San Diego, California.

Wheel was built with a friend following the Bernard Leach plans, St Ives, UK.

Pottery Tools

Various ribs and spatulas carved from

olive, ebony, oak, juniper, and manzanita wood

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Bread Dough Bowl

Large walnut tree stump in Sonoma

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Gnocchi shaper carved from Tanzanian ebony Mwiko

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Senufo style stool

from Walnut

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Spoons

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Roman sword

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Japanese Calligraphy

Writing 清水館

"Pure Water Hall" for a friend's Karate dojo.

Aquatic Ape 水猩 calligraphy on TD2 custom board shaped by Jim Ellington, 2024

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