Corona Virus craft projects

The Covid19 chaos over the last few years has meant more time working on smaller craft projects. In particular, much time has been spent crafting various items for display and sale at various upcoming events for the Northern Lakes chapter of the WCHA. 

These items include scale model versions of the historic paddles featured on the site. Using up off-cuts to make these miniatures (ranging from 12" to 24" long) was a fun little exercise. Most have been decoratively burned but a few have been painted. Also made some little stands from other thin remnants.

In addition, I've used up scraps of cedar and thin plywood to make some mini wanigans complete with leather tumplines. My son had the idea of making them into coin boxes so some have a slit on the lid to serve as as wanigan bank.

Also used thin remnants to make some other items for fundraising. These include wooden bookmarks decorated with burned images of other paddles featured over the years.

Along with some discounted books, framed artwork and a few other hand-made items we hope to have an eye-catching display at future events. Here's some stuff set up on the basement ping pong table...

Another post about the group's next upcoming event will be posted in a few days. 

Swampy Cree Toy Paddle

Montreal's McCord-Stewart Museum collection includes a decorated model paddle with a painted blade. Although the maker in unknown, the paddle was collected from Moose Factory, James Bay

Swampy Cree Toy Paddle

Maker: Inconnu / Unknown

Date 1870-1878

Dimensions: 51.7 x 3.2 cm

Origin: Moose Factory, James Bay, Ontario, Canada

Numéro D'accession: M18577

Gift of Mrs. D. A. Murray

Source Link

Miniature Scale Model Paddles

Some of my work has been featured in the latest issue of Wooden Canoe (Issue #227 - Vol 45 - No3). Rob Stevens wrote an article entitled, "Small Paddles: An Exploration" which features the history of miniature paddles manufactured as samples / souvenirs from various canoe companies, as well as historical artists like Alpheus E. Keech (1855-1926).

Over the pandemic years, I've been using up smaller off-cuts of wood to make scale model historic replicas ranging from 12" to 24" long. Many of these are versions of full-sized paddles already listed on the Gallery page. Most have been decoratively burned but a few have been painted. Also made some little stands from other thin remnants. Here are some of the examples...

Wooden Canoe, the journal of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, is one of the primary benefits of membership in the WCHA. It is published four times each year, and each 32-page issue is packed with articles about canoe building and restoration, canoe tripping and wildnerness skills, stories about the history and romance of the wooden canoe, news about the WCHA and its Chapters, classified ads, and  more. 

Cedar "Huron" Paddle Replica

Coming across three nearly identical versions of a model paddle in the collections of the Smithsonian, New York's Metropolitan Museum and the Danish National Museum provided the motivation to attempt a full sized version.

DONOR NAME: Dr. William C. Sturtevant

COLLECTOR: Colonel C. B. Dyneley

OBJECT TYPE: Canoe Model / Paddle Model

PLACE: Ontario / Quebec, Canada, North America

ACCESSION DATE: 2002-Jun-30

COLLECTION DATE: 1848

ACCESSION NUMBER: 378683

USNM NUMBER: E430522-0

Original Post Link

Canoe Model with Accoutrements

Ralph T. Coe Collection, Gift of Ralph T. Coe Foundation for the Arts, 2011

Accession Number:  2011.154.6a–p

Original Post Link

National Museum of Denmark, Dept of Ethnography

Photo Credit: Kit Weiss

Hyslop, Stephen G. Chroniclers of Indian life. Alexandria, Va. : Time-Life Books. p.24

 All three model paddles to be made of cedar and I happened to have a scrap piece of red cedar with decent grain. A small 55 inch paddle could be made from the board after cutting around small knots. Shaping out the blank and thinning down the blade with the axe produced lots of scrap for summertime campfires.

The diamond shaped blade features notched shoulders with the face divided into faded red and blue hemispheres. The blade tip shaped into a blunt point. Ended up using some milk paints with similar colours to mimic the decorative effect. The Met Museum cites the model as being a "Maliseet style" but the Smithsonian and Danish samples mention a provenance stemming from the Quebec / St. Lawrence river valley with the Danish sample mentioning it was was made by Quebec Huron / Wendat as a tourist item. This makes the most sense as by the mid 19th century the Wendat in the Quebec city region were well known for manufacturing and marketing such models for the burgeoning tourist trade. As such I've labelled this paddle as a "Huron".

New Crooked Knife

Amidst the Covid19 lockdown, I realized I lost one of my favourite carving tools - this crooked knife made back in 2010.

So part of my quarantine was spent making another blade from an old file and creating a new crooked knife. In the end the loss of a favourite tool allowed for some more customisation on this one. The blade is set to a comfortable angle for me with the handle carved from a piece of hard maple. Also made it more decorative with a rounded scroll on top with chip-carved mimicked pattern burned along the sides

I screwed up the delicate carving of the recess for the tang and it ended up being far too loose. Not traditional, but the blade was set with some epoxy putty and then wrapped with some leather lace. It seemed fitting that a canoe paddle should be burned onto the design as well.

Been testing it out on a bunch of mini-paddles I've been working on. It is carving well...

Royal Collection Trust: Mi'kmaq Canoe Model with Paddles

Came across a Mi'kmaq sourvenir bark canoe that came with two dolls, two pair of paddles, a fishing spear and miniature basket. Now in the Royal Collection of Trust of Queen Elizabeth II, the set was presented  then Prince Albert Edward (the future King Edward VII) during his visit to Canada in 1860.

Mi'kmaq Model canoe and dolls 1860
RCIN 84332

Royal Collection Trust

© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016
Source Link

Another photo showcases the paddles, which look like two larger stern paddles and two smaller spear-like paddles with pole grips used by the bow paddler.

Mi'kmaq model paddles 1860
RCIN 84332

Royal Collection Trust

© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

Source Link

Find it pretty interesting that while the canoe is obviously not a true replica, being decorated with dyed porcupine quills and lacking an accurate number of ribs, the paddles do match some existing artworks from the era.

Paddle Detail from Wigwams at Pointe de Levy, Lower Canada

ca. 1836

Artist: Whitmore, George St. Vincent, 1798-1851.

Credit: W.H. Coverdale Collection of Canadiana

Source Link

New Game - Paddle Ball!

Here's fun way to distract the kids when they need an outlet on a rainy day. My little one spontaneously grabbed the mini Maliseet paddle I had made for the bark canoe model back in '08 and began to whack an inflated dollar store beach ball around the apartment. Great safe fun... now I just have to get a league going for this new sport of Paddle Ball.

Cedar Duckling Paddle

Back in the late summer, I attempted carving a mini Bushcraft style paddle from a cedar log for my yet-to-born baby boy. It was a fun attempt on a nice afternoon, carving next to the lake with some baby ducklings for some company.


Working with the crooked knife


Duckling company
The paddle's been sitting in the locker room since then and with some much needed relaxation required, I set out to decorate the blade with some free hand burnings of ducklings. White cedar has never been a desired wood for pyrography - its soft nature and open grain with plenty of knots leads doesn't burn evenly. So the result is pretty speckled and uneven, but I don't think my boy will mind when he plays with it.


Ducklings on the blade


The whole paddle

Mini Decorated Cherry Maliseet

Given that my full-scale paddle making has come to grinding halt with the ever present needs of a newborn at home, I spent some quality "me-time" getting back into the hobby with a tiny 1/5th scale Cherry Maliseet. The blank had been cut many months ago and with some bright sunshine on the balcony, I set to work carving with the spokeshave. Twenty minutes of work resulted in a cute little paddle for my boy.


Mini blank; Carved paddle & tools
For the decoration, I tried to free-hand some scroll patterns similar to the chip-carved Maliseet & Penobscot paddles I've been researching lately. The paddle was then sealed with melted food-grade coconut oil in case the little one starts nibbling on the edges. While lightly asleep in his colourful bouncer, I quickly snapped a shot in his first paddling pose. When he started to squirm, it actually looked like he was doing a forward stroke.


Decorative Scroll Patterns; Paddling in his dreams?
I think he has what it takes to be Canada's next Top Infant Model, but maybe I'm just gushing with parental bias.

Carving a mini Bushcraft Paddle

Ever since I saw a Ray Mears Bushcraft Episode (Canoe Journey on the Missinaibi River) where he carved a bushcraft style paddle from some fallen cedar with an axe and crooked knife, I've wanted to try it out. Before expending the energy to source out a full-sized log and hacking away vigorously, I thought I'd try my hand at a mini version for my yet-to-be-born baby boy. In reality, I've just needed a healthy distraction while the clock nervously ticks down to the delivery date.

I found an appropriate piece of recently cut cedar in the adjacent hotel property's scrub pile (where I had salvaged stakes for the canoe build earlier) and proceeded to split it. Even though one side of the log was branch free, the split revealed some knots within. Obviously not the best piece for a working paddle, but this whole thing was a fun experiement anyway. Using my axe, I started to chop away and end up with a rough paddle shape.


Chopping out a mini paddle from a split log
The paddle blank would need to be finely taken down with my mini crooked knife blade - a perfect tool for this bushcraft style carving. Much to my delight while working by the shoreline, a mommy duck with her ducklings hopped onto the shore by feet and kept me company. At first, they took the many wood shavings for food but quickly realized they were inedible and just hung out by my feet


Working with the crooked knife


Duckling company
As much as I tried however, my crooked knife technique left many indents and gouges so the paddle wasn't very smooth. Back in the city, I sanded it down and was left with a mini ottertail with my favourite Maliseet style grip.


The final mini bushcraft paddle
I haven't decorated it yet, but am thinking about burning some ducklings onto the blade and tell the little one about how this paddle came to be when he's old enough to understand.

Mini Pack Basket & Paddle

In keeping with the minature scale of the model canoe, I decided to use some of the left over bark and spruce root to make a miniature birchbark basket. NativeTech has some nice info about Birch Bark containers as well as some sketches. In the end, I ended up with a simple design that contained sewing methods I learned from the lashing of the canoe.

I started off with two pieces of bark, although I only ended up using one (bottom piece in the pic). It was actually a full delaminated outer layer that was paper thin. The panel was soaked for additional pliability and then formed into a basic shape held temporarily with clothespins.


Bark pieces; Forming the shape; Temporary clamping
The top portion would be round while the bottom square with folded up sides. The triangular seams would be sewn with root using a saddle stitch while the upper seams sewn with a stitch identical to the one used for stitching the gores of the canoe.


Stitched up with dark spruce root
To form the rim, a thicker piece of fresh root was coiled into a circle and cut to fit the circumference of the opening. In addition, a thin strip of bark with the white side facing in was prepared to form an additional layer around the top of the basket. Then a coiling stitch was sewn through both bark layers binding the rim into shape.


The rim piece; Clamped into position with outer bark; Coil stitching
The mini Maliseet paddle had been cut out of some scrap poplar stock last time I went to the Carpenter's Square workshop. A few minutes with the spokeshave and the paddle blade was formed, although to even out the grip area, I ended up using the Ferrier's knife I picked up a while back. This was sanded out and using a mini round rasp, I carved out the hollow spots on the grip.


Mini paddle blank; Shaving it down
The paddle makes a great utensil for stirring stews & sauces. I think I might make a bunch more just for fun of it - a good use of the scrap wood. The pack basket is pretty crude by most standards, but I've got a few more pieces of bark to make more when I'm in the mood.


Mini basket & paddle