I'm so in love with archery lately...

From this website:
"From the fourth to the ninth century, close contacts between China and Japan had a great influence on Japanese archery, especially the Confucian belief that through a person's archery their true characters could be determined."
"Kyudo is a highly meditative martial art whose ultimate goals are Shin (Truth i.e. the ultimate reality), Zen (Goodness) and Bi (Beauty). When asked the question "What is Truth?" a master archer would pick up a bow and arrow and shoot it, without saying a word, allowing the level of mastery of the bow to serve as the gauge of the archer's progress along the "way" thereby showing the archer's knowledge of reality i.e. "Truth" itself."

A Japanese Longbow - Yumi - costs about ¥ 36000.--
They also feature Ya, sleek, not necessarily longer but shallower flights/feathers on the arrow. Let's see if we can copy those for next year's Drachenfest. Make about 50 arrows, with sleek flights, cheap. That would be cool.
Thanks to sneeuw_chan for these links. Let's see if they deliver in Europe *grin*

Also, I updated my website yesterday. And for some strange reason pasje threw me off her friends list.
Mom will be over for coffee later today. Whee!

Candles

I'm experimenting with the kind of candles I can make. I've one good mold for it, which I got from sjuuls. Outside that, I am without molds. So I tried glasses. I have one glass that creates a conical candle that gets wider towards the top. It's desperately ugly, but it works in a way (i.e. a romantic night in the bedroom only requires light from flames from various candles, and I don't care the ones on the bookcase are ugly because there's a klamboe in between anyway).
But today I was experimenting on my so-called "blood'n'bones" candles. They're made from pieces of old white candles (like the stuff that remains in the bottom of tealights when the wicks die out on you), crumpled up. And then I pour liquid red wax over it. Works like a charm in the mold I have.

I figured if I took a longdrink glass (tip from my stepdad) I could make a long narrow candle, in this style. But since there's no seeing whether the inside of the glass is suitable until you make a candle with it, I sort of didn't know what to expect. What I got was the most godugly candle I've ever made.

XD


It can't even stand up on its own for more than two seconds, it has to be poked on a pin, or molten on the underside.
So that longdrink glass is out. Next please....Let's see if I can create some more "A-Wizard's-Staff-Has-A-Knob-On-The-End"-like candles.