More Archery tack
Okay, so I got the quiver done:
LoadedForBale
(yuk yuk)
A simple design that I unabashedly stole from Evrard de Valogne’s picture set posted to Flickr. He’s heavy into the SCA and used this pattern in several classes he taught, so I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind. Here’s what it looked like before the coloring process:
It’s just a simple tube about 19″ long, with a bit of a cutout at the throat. The base is an inverted cup wet-formed around a can and then stitched in. To hang it, that rectangle gets folded in half over a belt and the two straps riveted into the corners, then the fancy bits to the right hold on a set of D-rings forming the anchors for the straps.
For color, I used Tandy’s Eco-Flo Antique in Mahogany.
In Evrard’s original photos, the seam on the tube is an overlap, but I decided I had to try and improve that. Instead, I butted the two ends and then sewed a strip onto it using a nice lace. I put a pair of rivets into the top two holes just to make sure it didn’t come apart on me, then sewed it from the bottom up.
When you stitch with lace like this, make sure you go back to the beginning and tighten every stitch all the way up to the top – I ended up pulling another 4 inches of lace back out and getting a nice tight seam all the way up. Also watch your pattern – it makes a difference if the same over/under pattern is present through the whole seam.
I had originally opted for a fixed-length strap, but had to put buckles in because I didn’t estimate the canting angle correctly and it was on the verge of tipping the arrows out all the time – I had to shorten up that front strap to get a better angle. I also managed to punch the mounting holes for the D-ring placement crossways to what I should have done and in the wrong place, so I ended up with extra holes – I filled ’em in with rivets and it isn’t that bad.
And yes, the placement of the carving is deliberate, I wanted to show it off so I rolled it around to the side other people could see while I was wearing it.
All-in-all, not bad for a first attempt. It still seems a little front-heavy, so I’ve taken to just keeping a set of knocking pliers in the bottom to weigh it down on that end. having it must have given me some extra confidence last week or something – I finally managed to start grouping shots on the target.
I’ll see you on the range.