Finding peace in native art

Tag : fine art materials

"I started collecting Indian artifacts years ago," said Shaffer. "Ibought several pieces at local auctions and shops across thecountry."
Shaffer eventually began making shadow boxes with many of theartifacts he'd collected.
"Everyone needs to be challenged at something," Shaffer said. "Lifegets too dull if you aren't challenged. So after I retired fromStone Container, I started working on making the peace pipes. Thesepeace pipes are made from deer antlers and oak dowels."
He's made around 15 of the pipes and has sold a few of them. Hishand-carved peace pipes sell for anywhere in the range of $125 toaround $400.
"I have some for sale at the Blue Bean Artist Gallery and also afew things at McKee's Barber Shop in Coshocton," he said. "I alsohave some of my Native American artifacts at a booth at theCoshocton Antique Mall."
The process of making a peace pipe takes at least a week just tocarve the main figure, then additional time to work on the pipestem.
"Those are full, over eight hours each day of work," declaredShaffer. "First I decide what I want to carve. Usually I'll seesomething or get an idea from somewhere."
He then sketches out the design free hand in colored pencil. Oncehe has the design worked out, he goes through his collection ofdeer antlers and picks out the pieces that will work in thecarving. He saws off the antler pieces that he wants to use. Thenpins and glues the pieces together to determine the rough shapeneeded.
"I'll start working the antlers by roughing them down on the sanderto get enough to carve out the figure," Shaffer explained. "Then Istart doing the fine detail work with the Dremel tools. I alwaysstart with the carved figure first, then design the pipe stem."
To get the antlers smooth, Shaffer uses an old drawknife to roughthem down to a smooth stone-like state. Then he rough files andsands each piece.
After he gets the design carved, Shaffer decorates the carvingusing fine-tipped sharpie markers.
Shaffer isn't quite sure how he got interested in making the NativeAmerican art.
"I always liked to work with my hands, but I'm not sure how I gotstarted carving," he said. "I always was interested in engineeringand made a lot of model airplanes."
In high school, he was able to take four years of industrial artsinstead of the usual three.
Since he and his wife, Martha, live in a condo at The Oaks inCoshocton, he knew he needed to find something to do with his handsthat wouldn't involve huge equipment such as traditionalwoodworking. He had also amassed a collection of deer antlers andseveral Native American artifacts, and knew he wanted to dosomething with them.
"I had some ancient stone hatchets that didn't have any handles,"he said. "I wondered what the Native people would have used for ahandle. I thought about that for a while, and then I went out andcut some grapevine, brought it home and soaked it in water. I wasthen able to bend it around the stone hatchets and tie it togetherto form a sturdy handle."
Shaffer said that as a kid living in the Tyndall area, he spentmost all his free time playing in the woods and swinging ongrapevines.
"I've always loved the woods," he said. "My grandmother would packme a lunch and I'd spend all day out there. There were severalwooded areas in Tyndall that had Indian mounds in them and I playedaround them."
Shaffer has been pleased with all the pieces he's designed and madeso far. The Indian head with the feathers was one of the mostdifficult ones he's carved. Each feather was carved separately andglued onto the headdress.
"I haven't had to junk any of them," he said. "I'm now looking formy next challenge. I think I'll work on a squirrel or a rabbitcarving next."