Archive for the ‘obsidian’ Tag

the glass buttes knap in day 2   Leave a comment

sorry for the delay, i will put all of the parts together in the end like i did with the “ice fishing” posts.

 

The glass buttes knap-in (day two)

Friday, march 25, 2011


Well we woke up at 6 in the morning and were on the I-5 by 6:30. The sky was a dark greenish gray and it seemed like the sky was sticking to the ground in some places. In some places the road was covered in a thick blanket of fog. It made the car seem like it was moving in slow motion. I only caught one little glimpse of the sunrise and it was a narrow band of pink clouds in between the horizon and the thick, low fog level. It was only visible as the car went over a rise in the highway, before the forest hid it again.

Gradually the sky lightened, turning into a soft blue before turning the light gray of a rainy winter day.

For the first hour or so we had the highway all to ourselves and made good time.

At around 8:30 we got lost for the first time. When we crossed the boarder into Oregon the  numbers on the exit signs started to get larger without us knowing so we thought we had missed the exit that we needed.  Taking advantage of this anya went to a drive-thu coffee stand and got a big old espresso. By the time we figured out how to get back onto the interstate the traffic caught up with us.

Another confusing bit was to try and cut through the little town before crossing the mountain pass. This time we didn’t really get lost, only didn’t know which way was the right way.

After a bit of zig zagging and following cars with snowboards on their roofs we got onto the highway wich led through the mountain pass.

The whole way through the road was bare but with a lot of new snow coming down.

It was quite a nice, smooth road. That is until we passed the summit. From then on the road deteriorated into a mass of large crevasses and pot holes where sections the size of a small car were gouged out of the middle of the road. It was a real tire wrecker to say the least.

When we finally got out of the mountain pass –all four tires intact- we were greeted by the wintery landscape of the interior of Oregon. It snowed lightly all through the desert but stopped at around 11 when we made it to Bend. We stopped at a super market there and stocked up on camping goodies. It always amuses me to see all of the toxic junk food in the stores down in the states. Packed full of aspartame, bad fats and various other chemicals to make the food taste delicious while slowly killing you.

Once we got onto highway 20 we knew we needed to go for 70 miles down the road, but that didn’t stop me from getting excited about every butte that we past.  It always happens like that.

“oh is that the butte???”  I ask while bouncing up and down in the passenger seat.

“i..   I don’t think so”    …     “I remember that butte we’ve tried there. no its not the glass butte we have another 45 minutes on this road”

5 minutes pass

“are you suuuurrrre???”

“yes”

“okaaayyy”

every time  xP

We finally found the buttes and first thing we did was set up camp right by a little creek and in a little sheltered horseshoe shape of cypress trees.

Once the camp was set up it was time for us to go on a walk in the buttes, we walked southwest from our little valley camp ground, over hills in search of the elusive obsidian (its everywhere on the ground.) so I filled up my pack with some nice small cobles and came back to camp. After knapping for a good 40 minutes I had 5 performs and it was time for a nice bowl of chilly. Speaking of chilly, the whole time at the buttes so far, the temperature was just above freezing but as soon at the sun went behind the mountain or the clouds, it dropped below zero quickly, down to about minus 12.

So after out bellies were full we went over to see the people of the knap in. there was a tarp strung in between two trees to block the wind. the other direction had a steep hill with a few more cypress trees which blocked the wind from the south. In the center of the area was a big fire which did a really good job of warming the area. We found out that the day that we got there all of the people had left that morning. They heard that a big storm was coming through and that they were calling for 4 inches of snow. We also met two people who had brought a couple of horses. They had a TP set up and it was a real site to see. So I talked to them for a while and then headed back to the fire. While there I made two nice 8 inch blades out of dacite.  Which was supplied by the man who held the knap in that year. By the end of the second it was getting dark so I went back to the tent and crawled into my sleeping bag.

I closed my eyes listening to the sounds of the high desert. Snow was tinkling down on the tent making slight tapping sounds. Every once in a while a just of wind would hit the tent blowing the thin layer of snow that had accumulated off into the desert. Later on the wind picked up for a while and it felt like we were going to be blown away.

A lone coyote started to yip breaking the silence of the desert another one called from further away. After about half an hour I fell asleep.

What a great day.

three obsidian spear heads   2 comments

first off thank you for getting me over the 1000 view marker..  i know it doesnt sound like much but its a milestone in my books..

over the past few weeks i decided to try my hand at making some larger points out of the preforms that i have been so religiously making. here’s what i came up with:

a dovetail (possibly the best point i have ever made) a folsom-clovis cross, and my first attempt at a winachee clovis!

 

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR HIGH RES. IMAGES! (they fill your screen!)

hover the mouse over the first photo of a point for a more detailed description.

enjoy…

 

the dovetail:

midnight lace dovetail

midnight lace dovetail, photograph edited to show flake scars

backlit obsidian spear point

backlit beauty

side view to show thinness of the dovetail

obsidian dovetail sketch showing detailed flaking

 

the folsom/clovis:

a folsom-clovis cross

 

intermediate clovis: backlit

clovis-folsom sketch to show detailed flaking

 

and finally the winachee clovis:

my first winachee clovis, made out of "pumkin" or mahogany obsidian.

have a good one, and thanks for looking!

the teenage caveman.