TOG 24

TOG 24; have you heard of them?…I hadn’t.

While in the UK I wanted to buy a down jacket and while in TK MAX in Newmarket I found a jacket made by a company called TOG 24 for £90.  Not familiar with the company I decided not to buy one.  I asked friends about this company but no one seemed to know much about them, but coincidentally while visiting my aunty in hospital in Peterborough, my cousin informed me that TOG 24 had a store about 2 minutes drive from the hospital, so I decided to pay them a visit to find out more about the jacket.

The jacket is called an “Everest” and has 80% Duck down, 20% Feather and 500 fill power.  Their temperature rating for the jacket was to about -30 degrees C.

When I told them I was thinking to buy from TK MAX they even offered a jacket at a slightly cheaper price, so I bought one.

The coldest temperature I have warn the jacket at so far is -22 with just at-shirt underneath and I was warm and comfortable.  The jacket is a little thicker than other more expensive makes and does not pack down so small, but for the price I am very very pleased!!

 

First course available

It’s now dark by 4pm but things are continuing to progress.  I have just added pictures and text to my post about our new cabin
http://naturallore.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/another-cabin/
.

Our new website www.naturallore.com is now up and running and I have just published details of the first Sami course we are offering called Skin. wool and fur.  The first five people booking on the courses will being staying in the above cabin.

I am also busy working on the cabin we have in the garden, to make it into a classroom for our craft courses, but more about that soon.

Rådjebalges/Gränsleden Guiding Course – Part 7

Hundreds of mosquito’s came into the laavu during the night.  I was fortunate enough to have a piece of insect netting material to put over me, but the others were not.

We awoke at 7am, made fire and cooked breakfast

After breakfast we were soon packed and on the trail again.  Very soon we located an old camp with an old fire site from in a kåta, defined by a ring of stones

The camp site was located in an area surrounded by rock on all sides and so sheltered from the worst of the weather

We also found an old turf kåta and discussed the idea to repair it as shelter for people walking the trail, where they can either sleep or just make fire and cook coffee.

Late morning we encountered a heavy thunderstorm and heavy rain.  The rain continued when we stopped for lunch and so it was challenging conditions to make fire.

Per-Erik demonstrated that a piece of Juniper stem split into quarters and the centre which has a high turpentine content removed

can be ignited very easily, even in the wet.  And it was not long before we had a small fire going

We arrived back in Ritsem at 7pm and for me it was a great relief as I had been suffering with pain in my hip and back.  I am now seeing a chiropractor who found that my pelvis was twisted and had to be re-aligned with my back.  This may unfortunately mean I cannot attend the second week of the course from Norway back to Ritsem…..we shall see.

The soul of my boot also split along the route and so I had to buy new boots when I arrived home.  Per-Erik has used many different makes of boots and his recommendation was a pair of Viking Hunters

At least when I arrived home Teres had some good news for me……..I’m going to be a dad/pappa!!!!!….:>)

Kiruna Saami museum

There are very good cultural museums in Jokkmokk and Gallivare, but I was unaware of a Saami museum in Kiruna until I visited Kiruna for a day with Adrian last week.  The museum is away from the city centre and is called Samegarden and I promised that I would promote the museum here for anyone visiting Kiruna.  You can learn much about the Saami traditions and clothing

the different designs of clothes for each Saami community

Here is an old Saami man in his winter clothing made from Reindeer skins

This man is depicted using a traditional frame drum

I was pulling a modern pulk to the cabin but here is the traditional one pulled by Reindeer

A view inside a traditional Saami dwelling (so many people lived in such a small space)

and of course there are many examples of traditional crafts such as knives and carvings but also hunting items such as these rolled Birch bark floats for fishing nets

and these bark pouches with a stone inside to weight the nets at the bottom

It costs 20 SEK to visit and is well worth the price and there is information available in English about the displays.

Jokkmokk’s Marknard 2010

We drove to Jokkmokk on Saturday morning to visit the marknard.  The market has been taking place for over 400 years and was originally an opportunity to people from the south to trade goods and skins with the Saami people.

The 6th of February is the National Saami Day and so they put on a very good show in the afternoon in an ice arena.

more about “Jokkmokks marknard 2“, posted with vodpod

People talking about the life and history of the Saami, people dressed in traditional clothing

and there was yoiking (the traditional singing of the Saami people) both traditional and moden.  This is Jokkmokk’s rock.

more about “Jokkmokks Marknard“, posted with vodpod

I purchased some Reindeer skins (yours is ready to collect Mr Boots), Reindeer leather to make pouches, Lapp Leather to make traditional knife sheaths and a pair of Skobands for my friend Johan.

Companies I cannot recommend….

For some time I have wanted to purchase a pair of US Military “Mickey Mouse” boots.  These were first issued to GI’s in the Korean War and are designed to shield against water and extreme cold.  The boots are constructed of rubber and between two layers of rubber, air is trapped to act as insulation.  A valve on the outside of the boot means you can add or remove air to vary the degree of insulation provided.  In addition the boots are wool lined for increased insulation.

So I was really pleased to find a company in the UK advertising them, brand new for only £9.95 +p&p!  I ordered my a pair of size nines from Surplus and Adventure and 5 days later they arrived.  As soon as I unpacked them it was clear that these boots were not what they were advertised to be.  The label on the back stated “US style” and lacking two layers of rubber, a valve, and wool liner these were in fact just short, lace-up wellington boots with an incredibly heavy steel shank and I would require about 10 thick wool socks to to fill the boot with my foot.  The cost of returning the boots would have been almost as much as the purchase price so I have forwarded them for re-sale else where as a “safety boot!”.  My verdict…..DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!

“Googling” this company brings a lot of results from unhappy customers and in fact my colleague at work ordered some items from them three weeks ago and has not yet received them.  When he contacted them, he was told the items are not in stock and will hopefully be in within a week…..we shall see!!

UPDATE 16/12/09 – The items my colleague ordered have arrived today.

At the beginning of the year I was contacted by a representative from Fusion Productions in the USA, who explained that they were working on a new television series called “Hot on the Trail”, to be aired on the Veria Network in June 2009.

They contacted me because they wanted to use images of some of my crafts made from Cattail/Reed Mace for the Cattail part of the series.  The series sounded really good and after some exchanges of emails I agreed to supply images for the series, in return for a DVD copy of the programme.

Since providing some images I have heard nothing from the company and having emailed the two representatives I had been dealing with to find out if my images were actually used, I have received no response.

I would very grateful if anyone who has seen the series could get in touch with me if any of the images below were featured in the programme.

Willow and Cattail leave baskets

Cattail basket

Cattail leaf duck

Cattail Dolls

Thanks in anticipation.

UPDATE

After writing this post the production company contacted me and informed me that they did not use my images in the series.  My recommendation to others……if people seriously want what you have they will pay for it!!

Quy/Fenland Country Fair & Country Covers

Today I have been at Fenland Country Fair held at Stow-Cum-Quy near Cambridge.  You can read about the event at the link provided.

The reason I am writing about this event is because Country Covers the civilian partner of Arktis were there and as I already use some of there equipment and now have a couple of new items to try out on my next trip to Lapland, I thought I would give them a mention and recommend them to you.

I have their A190 Stowaway Shirt (about 3/4′s of the way down the page) which is designed to be wind and water resistant and helps to trap heat.  It weighs 150g packs down incredibly small and fits in your pocket.  I carry one with me every day.

I have one of their A110 Field Shirts in olive to try out.  It is designed to permit superior ventilation and the outer fabric is robust, resilient and hard wearing, featuring; 2 large front zipped pockets, 2 front button pockets, tabbed buttons for extra strength, vented back with mesh lining and fully adjustable cuffs.

I also have a D190 Antarctic Shirt (about 3/4′s of the way down the page).  It’s made of 70% Merino wool and treated to prevent irritation to your skin.  It features, a long tail for maximum heat retention, thumb cuff hand warmers and zipped rollover collar.

Lapland Spring 2009 – 29th May

I began the day by washing some clothes

and just like in the UK……shortly after it started raining!!

By late morning the rain had cleared and using my carving axe I continued to shape the second kåsa.

I had been given a Bug Band, designed to repel biting insects such as mosquitoes without the use of deet to test during my trip.

Up to now there had been few mosquitoes but after the rain there were several around so while sitting outside carving I thought I would test it out.  Unfortunately as you can see in the picture below it was not very effective as there is a mosquito biting my knee!

Two years ago my friend Jon was staying at the cabin, helping with repair work.  One of the tasks was to repair a leak around the chimney using Flash Band flashing which I had brought with me from England.  Flashing around a chimney prevents rain water running down the chimney brickwork into the cabin, and instead diverts it onto the roof.  Unfortunately the Flash Band was not designed for the extreme temperatures of Lapland and the water was getting in again.

Ingvar was keen to get the leak repaired and so had purchased the required materials (capable of withstanding extreme temperatures) and arrived to help repair the chimney.

Very quiet for birds today.  This Great-spotted Woodpecker was one of the few birds I saw around the cabin

So I headed over to the marsh for the evening

As I walked on the marsh I was struck by how much greener it was now looking.  Species such as this Cotton Grass were now growing and adding colour to the marsh

Bird species on the marsh included displaying Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, lekking Ruff and Lapwing.  The Common Crane was busy feeding and had started to construct a nest.

Primitive skills weekend – Part 1

Last weekend I attended a primitive skills weekend run by Will Lord and John Lord + some of their friends.  Here are John and Will exchanging tips on the hand-drill

I arrived early on Friday afternoon as food was being prepared for an evening meal

Once this rabbit had been gutted and skinned we made up a rack to suspend it over the fire to cook (we cooked Pike in the same way).

People continued to arrive throughout the evening

I had set up my parachute as a tipi for my shelter for the weekend and it was great to be able to lay in bed on Saturday morning testing out my new trangia stove to make coffee and fried breakfast.

I fried salami, mushrooms and spring onions on bannock bread and I must say that the stove performed extremely well.

The day started with some of us attempting to produce a coal with the hand-drill……unsuccessfully I might add!

Will lead the primitive theme for the weekend by dressing in his buckskin and leather clothing (including a really nice pair of Red Deer skin boots he had made)

After a chat and a brief about activities for the day around the campfire

some people started scraping deer skins ready for tanning.

As brains were being used for tanning the hides, they needed to be mashed up before they could be applied

Nick (a deer manager and stalker by trade) gave a demonstration on skinning a Roe deer with flint tools

and also butchering it with flint tools

and John was running a flintknapping workshop on making flint tools

For lunch we experimented with cooking shell fish on a burning log with a few embers on the top

which worked really well

Winter in Lapland 2009 – 9

I took a two hour train journey from Gallivare to Jokkmokk on the Inland train, arriving in Jokkmokk at 10:45.

There were just so many things I would of liked to have bought, particularly a set of these woollen clothes with leather trims

but I was at the market to specifically buy Reindeer skins and antler tips.  While walking around the market I did meet my Swedish friend Marina who is attending a one year Primitive Skills Course.

The 6th February is national Saami day and there were presentations and songs being given on the main stage

As I understand some bodies of Saami people were excavated from their graves for museum exhibits and the Saami people are now campaigning for them to be returned.

As well as people speaking there was also some yoiking which is Saami traditional singing.  This short piece of video is of  Thomas Marainen (thanks Marina) and was just so wonderful to listen to.  Unfortunately he does not seem to have any CD’s available to buy.

more about “P1010804.flv video by sufguy1 – Photo…“, posted with vodpod

After completing my shopping list I headed off to watch the Reindeer racing again.  Here they are attaching the Reindeer to the sledges.

and then they are released and the race begins

The girl leading in this race is Mary and she comes from the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre

In the next race one of the Reindeer broke free but this guy managed to hold on to the tether rope and travelled around the whole course like this

This was the final race that I saw

more about “P1010812.flv video by sufguy1 – Photo…“, posted with vodpod

Then it was time for me to return to the station to catch my train, but here is a picture of all the items I bought

2 large Reindeer skins, 2 Birch tanned Reindeer hides for making my bags like the one you can see in the picture, antler tips for fasteners, two knife blades from the blacksmith who made my own blade and 10 kuksa’s which I am selling to help cover the cost of my trip.