November 2019 – Astrolabe Arts

Natural Spiral Knot Walking Cane

Sometimes I find a piece of wood that I try to work as little as possible – usually for wands since I come across small interestingly shaped pieces than larger ones. If memory serves, which it might not, this was cut from the small patch of woods growing (mostly maple) near my house where some sort of vine grew along the small tree creating the nice spiral. I stripped away the bark then sanded it and after deciding to leave it as is applied some boiled linseed oil. It is on the smaller side measuring 50” or 4’2” making more of a cane or walking stick than a staff.

Artist: J.R. Goslant

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AstrolabeArts

https://www.facebook.com/AstrolabeArts/

November 28, 2019November 18, 2019 by jrgoslant Categories: Staffs and Hiking SticksTags: art, astrolabe arts, cane, hiking stick, knot, knotted, knotted wood, natural spiral, spiral, spiraled wood, walking cane, walking stick, wood working Leave a comment

Chi Rho Templar Staff

The idea behind this piece is if a Templar Knight retired and tended to a farm this would be the staff he used. The top has a subtle natural spiral that I wanted to leave intact and to possibly serve as the hand grip (depending on your height and preference). Below the spiral I wood burned the “chi rho” and ichthys symbols, on the reverse I wood burned a Templar cross. Below those are “alpha” and “omega” followed by “INRI” and “IHS” and a runic script which reads “Milites Christi” on the respective sides. There’s also a strand of leather rawhide with a rune charm I found and thought would be fitting: “Nyd,” meaning “endurance, survival, and destiny. I then used a spray acrylic sealer and boiled linseed oil to preserve and protect the wood. Some of the oil also got onto the rawhide and darkened it slightly, but came out looking better. Boiled linseed oil isn’t typically supposed to be used on rawhide, but shouldn’t cause any problems for a static piece on a staff. It has a slight bend to it and measures 58″ tall.

Artist: J.R. Goslant

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AstrolabeArts

https://www.facebook.com/AstrolabeArts/

November 21, 2019November 28, 2019 by jrgoslant Categories: Staffs and Hiking SticksTags: alpha, chi rho, chrisitian, hiking staff, hiking stick, knight's templar, omega, pyrography, runes, runic, templar cross, walking staff, walking stick, wood burning Leave a comment

Pyrite Petroglyph Staff

A more modest petroglyph staff with symbols found in rock carvings from around the world: some symbols like the spiral are fairly universal, but a good number of these are found in the Southwestern areas of the US. The meaning of many petroglyphs remain obscure to this day, some claim they depict shamanic rituals while others say they show evidence of ancient astronauts. The symbols here were created with various paint pens. A piece of pyrite bordered by black rawhide crowns the top of the staff and then the entire 4’8“ piece was given a few coatings of acrylic sealer to protect the paint from running and from overall weathering.

Artist: J.R. Goslant

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AstrolabeArts

https://www.facebook.com/AstrolabeArts/

November 14, 2019October 24, 2019 by jrgoslant Categories: Staffs and Hiking SticksTags: hiking staff, hiking stick, petroglyphs, walking staff Leave a comment

Spiraled Spalting Wand

Here’s another experimental and single piece wand where the blade and haft are a solid piece of wood. I wanted to keep practicing my modest wood carving abilities with this one. There’s some light carving on the base of the haft and a spiral running the length of the blade and wound with copper wire. The haft also has a wrapping of waxed hemp under black rawhide. The roughly 12” long wand of spalting wood also has a coating of boiled linseed oil for preservation.

Artist: J.R. Goslant

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AstrolabeArts

https://www.facebook.com/AstrolabeArts/

November 6, 2019October 24, 2019 by jrgoslant Categories: WandsTags: magic wand, wire wrapping, wood working Leave a comment