Unique Paddle Grips

While browsing on Fickr, I came across Smiley518's set on the 2008 Indian Summer Festival held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She took some fantastic pics of the event, including some shots of Voyageur Canoes, an Eastern-style Ojibway Birchbark Canoe, and a unique paddle design that caught my eye. Unfortunately, the name of the artist isn't known but it's a beautiful piece of work.





The paddle; The carved grip
I'm no expert, but it reminds me of a slender Maliseet-style beavertail with an nicely carved grip. At my request, Smiley518 graciously provided a zoomed image of the grip with its beautiful decorations and permission to post it. Along with the floral motif, there's a central medallion carving with what looks to be a beaver. Although decorative wood carving isn't my forté, I'm going to try and relief carve something like this with a future paddle blank I have on hand.

Back when I met Rick Nash at the 2008 WCHA Assembly, I took a photo of one of his chip carved grips, including one made for our canoe loving Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.


Some of Rick Nash's paddle grips
I'll probably have to practice on many wood scraps before I attempt to do anything like these carved grips on a fully completed paddle. Perhaps the carving can be combine with pyrography to get a sort of 3-dimension woodburning effect. So many ideas - not enough TIME!