Weird licce carving knife

Dunno if you know that feeling... you got that idea nagging at the back of your brain, but it is just too weird, so you don't get started for ages.  

Well, until you don't don't get started anymore...😜. 

That one above.  

Forged a skull  bottle opener.

But with a little marking blade on the other end. 
Little bit of ball peening, too.  

 The knife is pretty handy for woodcarving, even though it is not well suited for roughing.  Steel is 80CrV2. It would also make a nice bartender knife. I am currently thinking about adding a corkscrew.  

But for woodcarving detail work, it really shines. Not the last one I made, for sure.  

Carving a container from Bamboo

This is another really simple and rewarding project. Carving a container from Bamboo is well suited for kids and beginners, too.  

The containers are well suited e.g. for coffee, but can also provide a base for other projects.  

Bamboo is hollow, with intersections at the knots.  If you saw off a section like that in the picture above, you are already halfway done.  

You can remove the bark or leave it on for further decorations (see below). 

Take a common natural wine cork and whittle it to fit in small and steady cuts. 

The bark, by the way, is pretty tough. 

Just like that, you got a functional container.  Now you can decorate it.  

 I also have a video on YouTube about the process:

Making historical oak gall ink

Some time ago I collected some oak galls because I was feeling inspired by medieval scribe culture.  I had made the graphite pen holder and was asking myself whether I was able to make myself ink that actually would work.  

I made a video on YouTube for the process and a recipe, if you so will.  

 The ink consists of the oak galls, iron oxide, acorn shells in vinegar, and I stabilized it with cherry gum as a substitute for gum arabic, which is in the original.  I also want to try out to use mistle berries (visca alba),to stabilize.  

The experiment worked well enough to be used with a fountain pen.  In the Video I also show you how to prepare a feather pen. 

Hope that you enjoy to experiment with that, and take good care!