Robin Egg Blue Paddle

From the Cherry Gallery's current items...

Canoe Paddle in Blue Paint


"A refined handmade paddle with its original dry, robin's egg blue paint surface. Weathering of the paint on one side of the paddle has produced an appealing mottled appearance."
Maine.
Circa 1910
5.75" w, 65" h

New Orleans or Bust...

Phil Middleton & Richard O’Connor are planning a mother of a canoe journey down the Mississipi River this spring. Starting at the headwaters of the St. Croix River in northern Wisconsin, their plan is to make it to New Orleans in an aluminum canoe. They've set up a great blog site to document their journey complete with their unique brand of humour.

While Rich has already bonded with a lightweight, cedar bent-shaft paddle, Phil took it upon himself to carve his own for the journey. Turns out he got his lumber stock from Timeless Timber, a unique company that deals in salvaged wood recovered from the murky depths of the Great Lakes. Phil scored a pretty interesting bit of yellow birch with a beautiful grain and documented the construction of his paddle (all handtools) in this post. Great stuff and a memorable way to prepare for this grand adventure!


Phil carving away


Phil's custom paddle for their journey down the Mississipi River

Historic Paddle Illustrations - Codex canadensis

I've been searching old books for artist prints documenting some of their paddle shapes and decoration. As Graham Warren writes in Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide to Making Your Own early native paddles are frustratingly difficult to research given that many have not survived through the centuries. Most documentation has been in the form of European explorers who often crudely represented the paddles in out-of-scale drawings and sketches.

One fascinating historical document with such imagery is the the Codex canadensis, a 79-page document written circa 1700. It is believed to have been written by Louis Nicolas , a French missionary in Canada in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth century. The codex is illustrated with 180 drawings of First Nations peoples, plants, mammals, birds and fish of Canada

Collections Canada has a site setup to view all the illustrations in this piece of Canadian heritage. Here are some shots below that show some of the paddle forms and decorations encountered by Nicholas. I'll be posting more on other historic paddle illustrations soon.

Francois Rothan Carved Paddle

From Francois Rothan's new birchbark canoe site are some pics of his beautifully decorated Malecite ceremonial paddle. It's made from sugar maple and decorated with traditional chip-carved etchings. I took a chip-carving class once and ended up butchering the soft test wood (basswood). Until I get better at this under-appreciated artform, I'll stick to wood-burning.


Malecite Ceremonial Paddle


Chip-carved etchings

Silent Movie Birchbark Canoe

From the Archives Society of Alberta, a movie promo pic of silent film star Olive Borden photographed on location at Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. Apparently, it was for the 1926 film, The Country Beyond complete with a Mountie and other Canadian stereotypes.


Interesting to note that complete lack of gunwale lashing, ribs and sheathing. Furthermore, it looks to be made of 2 layers of bark with the inner brown sides back to back so that both the outer hull and interior have the white side facing out. The layers are delaminating and shredding off. Not a smart or authentic design of course. The canoe obviously was meant to be a prop and fulfill the audiences' expections of Canadian transportation in the wilderness. Another shot below shows the canoe next to a raft with the magnificient scenery in the background.


I think I've finally found a bark canoe that is uglier than my own!