One of the more unusual projects I have worked on this year is a quiver to hold 12 arrows. This quiver is more ornamental than functional as it will spend the best part of its life on a wall.
The main body has been cut from a beautifully soft, but thick buffalo hide and hand stitched with a sturdy flax cord. I have tried to keep to materials that fit the period for longbows, but as you can see, there is nothing period about the design.
A very large sun & moon motif has been crafted from two other tones of thinner leather. The stitching for the motif and the finer boarder stitch are 100% cotton threads. A much smaller Sorazora logo heat branded patch has been added to the upper most part of the arrow housing.
This quiver is made up of two sections held together by a large suede wrapped bamboo ring. The reason for this two part construction is that I wanted to break up the monotony of just a large expanse of leather for the quiver and the idea of the arrow shafts being a clearly visible part of the design appealed to me.
As this quiver is purely a decoration, I didn't worry too much about how it would be carried or worn. I didn't make any straps, but added strap loops at the bottom side of the main shaft housing.
As I mentioned, it has been designed to hold 12 arrows. Longbow arrows tend to be fairly large. These long broad shafts are made from poplar.
The poplar shafts are self-notched and have goose feather fletchings bound with linen. I tipped these shafts with bodkins, (medieval tips designed to penetrate chainmail), which are apparently not very welcome at club ranges!! As they are unlikely to see much use, I welcomed the bodkins because they allowed the use of holes in the leather that were not much larger than the shafts diameter. Broad points would require a much larger hole or at least slits incorporated into the hole.
This was a one-off project that I wished to share as it illustrates my favourite materials and some of the construction techniques that I tend to use time and time again.
