Building a bow

May 15, 2008 3:35 PM

Arnold Smit shows, step by step, the crafting of a bow. More of his beautiful bows here. (Also available in Dutch.)
posted by Upton O'Good (16 comments total)

Darn. I thought this was going to be a how-to-make-awesome-bows-out-of-ribbon. I would be the hit at the next baby shower. I would never divulge my awesome bow making skills. :evil laugh:
posted by LoriFLA at 4:56 PM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

It didn't even occur to me that this could be about ribbons.

men assume THIS and women assume THIS amirite?
posted by DU at 5:25 PM on May 15, 2008

I thought I would learn how to make obeisance with greater flair.
posted by nowonmai at 5:29 PM on May 15, 2008

ohhh.... bow. I'm an idiot.
posted by sir_rubixalot at 5:53 PM on May 15, 2008

The link hasn't loaded yet, but I can hardly wait to see all those boats.
posted by Huplescat at 5:53 PM on May 15, 2008

Oh yeah that looks easy/hard to read.

I'll let you know monday what the beautiful bows look like once it finished loading.
posted by sir_rubixalot at 6:03 PM on May 15, 2008

This fellow sounds very polite and respectful. He must have huge lower back problems from all that bowing, though.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:20 PM on May 15, 2008

Appreciation: That is one gorgeous piece of craftsmanship. And I'm delighted that individuals with such rare skills are documenting them for future generations.

Snark: Fabulous web design. Wouldn't want search engines to find any of that text.
posted by sdodd at 6:35 PM on May 15, 2008

I assumed it was about ribbons, too.

Um.

How about those Red Sox?
posted by yhbc at 6:39 PM on May 15, 2008

Ribbons? You people are dumb. The post is clearly about violin bows.

Wait... What?

[This is an awesome post]
posted by stet at 7:16 PM on May 15, 2008

This guy has a lot of power tools. But people used to make bows with sharp rocks and kill enormous wild animals with them.
posted by Huplescat at 7:22 PM on May 15, 2008

I was actually thinking violin bows too...
posted by kiltedtaco at 8:56 PM on May 15, 2008

Excellent post.

And he didn't even need the help of his nephew.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:04 PM on May 15, 2008

I also assumed ribbons, but love the non-ribbon bows nonetheless! Stuff like this makes me wish I had any talent for craftsmanship.
posted by ukdanae at 5:30 AM on May 16, 2008

I made a bow once.

It started when I stood up, and then bent at the hip, inclining my upper half slightly forward as a form of polite deference.

I didn't write a whole web page about it though.

I'm so going to break out my recurve this summer. It's been too long since I got my archery on.
posted by quin at 9:50 AM on May 16, 2008

Bucking the gender-trend, i thought 'cool! archery! - ohwait, maybe music.' Ribbons didn't even occur to me.
posted by ysabet at 11:56 PM on May 21, 2008