Wednesday, February 20, 2013

DIY Archery Set

Someone asked me about the archery sets I made for my children for Christmas, so I thought I'd post the details here.  I'm am in no way suggesting that these are safe - our family rule is that children can not use them without adult supervision.  

I based my design on some websites I found online.  However, there were some materials that I couldn't find or modified, here's the details:

I used 1/2 inch electrical conduit. I bought it at Home Depot, it comes in about 8ft lengths in grey. I think on most websites that they used plumbing pipe.  I wasn't able to find 1/2 inch plumbing pipe so I used electrical conduit instead.

Because I couldn't find plumbing pipe and used electrical  the cross joint in the picture on the website at the bottom of this page was not available.  It guess it simply doesn't exist for electrical pipe.

Instead of the cross joint I used 1/2 inch foam pipe wrap for a grip / a place for the arrow to rest. I marked the middle of the bow and then put the pipe wrap below the mark.

I put the pipe wrap in place and covered it in duct tape really tightly.  I found with the first bow I made that the pipe wrap slipped a little. I put a little hockey tape on the bow under the pipe wrap with other bows and the pipe wrap doesn't move at all.

Instead of drilling for the string at the ends of the bow [like the website above], I made a 1/2 inch slit in one side of each end of the pipe and then knotted the string and put it into the slit with the knot on the inside.  I then slid pipe joiners [they are about a 1/2 inch long and about 49 cents] over the end to keep the knot inside.

For arrows, I used wooden dowel. I bought them about as thick as a pencil so I could put a pointed pencil erasers over the end - got those at the dollar store. I notched the end of the arrows with a hacksaw to allow them to fit on the bow string. I first made arrows at 22 inches, but shortened them to 18 inches to limit the distance and force that my children could shoot them.

Here's one of the websites I based my design on: http://lifesprinkledwithglitter.blogspot.ca/2012/05/avengers-homemade-hawkeye-costume-part.html?m=1

That's about all. If you have questions, let me know.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Series: 1 Corinthians 13 [More to Come]

Am I loving? Is the Church loving? Looking through the lens of 1 Corinthians 13.
  1. Do we have love? [1 Corinthians 13:1]
  2. Knowledge is nothing. [1 Corinthians 13:2]
  3. Giving Motivation. [1 Corinthians 13:3]
  4. Patient. [1 Corinthians 13:4]
  5. Kind. [1 Corinthians 13:4]
More to home.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Kind

"Love is patient and kind..." (1 Corinthians 13:4)

Kind: "Having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature." (Google Definitions)

How often, I wonder, am I truly kind? How often do I choose to be friendly... when I am tired after a long week, or when I simply want to be alone but someone else does not. How often am I generous? Not the easy form of generosity when I give you what I do not want - how often have I given what I do want to someone who needs it more than I do? How often do I give away my time, without complaining? Am I truly considerate of others? Jesus said to put the needs of others before my own. Is that really what I am like? Does it come naturally to me?

What if I consider the Church? Are we kind? Are we warm and welcoming of other, friendly to those who are different than we are, to those who make us uncomfortable? Are we generous? Do we share our time and energy with others freely? Are we truly considerate of others and their need for the Gospel? Are we more concerned with our own consumption of religious goods and services or are we more concerned with the need in our community for the Gospel.

Am I truly kind? Are we?