Author: Peter Michael Bauer
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Brain-Tanned Nutria Pelt Bag
My brain-tanned nutria pelt murse. Case-skinned. Stitched the bum side with my bone awl and brain-tanned buckskin thong. The opening is where the face is, the shoulder strap is looped through the fore arm holes. Shoulder strap is a 5 strand braided chem-tan deer hide from scrap bins. I have only made one cut around…
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A Bunch of Bifaces
I’m not that great at flint-knapping. It’s one of my goals this year to be able to make nice arrowheads from a larger core of obsidian. At Echoes in Time this year I made a couple of handfuls of bifaces, a flat stone with one solid edge all the way around, created mostly through percussion…
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English Ivy Shrinkage in Green Weaving
When weaving with green ivy, I always weave it super tight. Still, like any weaving material, as green ivy dries it shrinks a lot. The basket above is an example of just how much shrinkage occurs. I rapped all the ivy down in a random spot to show how much space is left open. When…
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Wet-Scraping Nutria Hides With Bone and Stone Tools
So, I have a friend who has property and it is over-run with nutria. About three times a year he will go around and shoot as many nutria as he can see. This may seem cold, but nutria are an invasive species of aquatic rodent brought here during the fur trade era and released when…
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My Very First English Ivy Basket
This was the first ivy basket I made a few years ago (2009). It was a simple woven basket using only one weaver. No twining. It was roughly constructed. I gave it away to the forest up in Twisp, WA when I was at Lynx’s program.
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Bow-Drill Busking @ Last Thursday
I’ve been lighting bow-drills on the streets of Portland for 15 years now. It’s still fun, but man were my arms tired!
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English Ivy Fanny Pack
One of my more recent projects: The English Ivy basket-fanny pack. Tapestry weave. Chem tanned leather scrap for the front flap and belt loops. Deer toe bone for the button.
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Making Stone Flakes From a Columnar Basalt Core
For a while now I’ve been playing around with making tools from hard stone. I’m not a great knapper. I’m not really even a good one. I’m a novice when it comes to making beautiful arrowheads and knives. I can make functional arrowheads, and functional knives from obsidian or even glass bottles. My concern has…
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English Ivy Quickie “Survival” Basket
Quickie “survival” basket I made today in an hour or so at the Teen Wilderness Skills camp, a partnership between Rewild Portland and Portland Parks – Teen Environmental Adventures. Would have taken maybe 20 more minutes if I pulled the ivy myself. Simple weaving, no twining. I call these “survival” baskets because none of the…
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English Ivy Bow-Drill Kit
This mornings experiment: English Ivy Bow-drill with old growth ivy. Bow: English Ivy. Hand hold: English Ivy. Spindle: English Ivy. Fire board: English Ivy. Tinder: English Ivy bark. String: Brain-tanned buckskin. I tried to make a good cord from English Ivy roots using them in a withy-style but they were too dried out from yesterday…
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English Ivy Quickie Basket
My latest ivy basket experiment. Another “quickie” basket but this time as a time trial with only stone tools. Took approximately 2 hrs from start of harvest to completion of basket. Used a discoidal basalt stone flake for cutting and trimming the ivy and a broken twig (probably Douglas Fir) for an awl that I…
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Himalayan Blackberry Visor
This is a visor I wove out of inner Himalayan Blackberry Bark. The rim is a simple plaited weave and the brim is twined.