Indian Princess Custom Hiking Walking Shepherding Staff Stick Princesses Guide Retire Leader Gift

These are photos of a custom Hiking Stick that I built just before the start of the Summer, but didn’t take the time to post the photos then.

The customer on this project ordered this stick as a retirement gift for a departing multi-State district leader of the Indian Princess program, which is part of the YMCA Indian Guides structure, with the goal of helping kids with adult mentoring.

Serial Number #2013-01
Height 72”
Shed Elk Antler Fork
Burl Walnut & Figured Maple
Ash Sapling Dyed Black
Leather, beads, ink, paint, & feathers
Scrimshaw Artwork on a piece of inlaid synthetic ivory.

Each of the design elements has a color, or item, to symbolize the main principles of the organization, and how they strive to help girls make the right decisions.

Any program that gets Dads and Daughters to go camping and spend quality time together is a good idea to me, so I took this project on with an already loaded schedule and finished it right before I took my own son to Quivira Scout Ranch for his first Boy Scout Camp.

The Indian Princess organization found me through my Lumberjock’s postings about another Staff I did for an Indian Guides retiring leader , and contacted me about this commission.

Ever since I was invited to join up with Lumberjocks back in it’s first weeks, my online life has not been the same, and after a couple years of posting, my business has not been the same, and I survive almost completely now off the commissions I get from this website.

Thanks Martin for the vision and the invitation!

If you are new to the term “Scrimshaw” and would like to learn more about it, I have written quite about the artform and how it is accomplished, you can find that information by starting with my blog on My Scrimshaw Art Journey and following the other links embedded there.

Thanks for Looking,
Mark DeCou

(Note: All photos and text are the proprietary property of the Author, M.A.DeCou, and are protected by copyright 2013, all rights reserved, no unauthorized use in whole, or part is allowed without the expressed written permission by the Author.)
————————————————————————————————-

Handmade Finished Canes For Sale, Ready to Ship Now:

ETSY.com Online Shop Inventory: Click Here to Visit my Cane Inventory Page

A Sampling of Other Canes I’ve built:-

Folk Art & Pop-Art Carved Canes

1. Bear Head Dressy Cane
2. Horse Head Dressy Cane
3. African Safari and Elephant Cane
4. 50th Wedding Anniversary Staff
5. Carved Face Life-Story Cane
6. Motorcycle Biker's Walking Cane, Carved Flames
7. Elk Antler Handle, Carved Twisting Oak Leaves
8. Bishop’s Carved Walnut Crosier
9. Nascar’s Jimmie Johnson Themed Walking Cane
10. Carved Oak Leaf Walking Stick
11. Folk-Art Smiling Wood Spirit Face Cane w/ Elk Antler Handle
12. Folk-Art Carved Wood Spirit Hiking Stick
13. Folk-Art Pirate Carved Face Cane w/ Deer Antler Handle
14. Cartoon Character Taz, Folk Art One-of-a-kind Art Cane
15. Sculpted Wood Spirit Face Cane
16. Folk-Art Wood Spirit Cane w/ Elk Antler Handle & Scrimshaw
17. Folk Art Mountain Man Face Cane
18. Shamrock Wood Spirit Irish-Theme Face Cane
19. Walnut Wood Spirit Face Cane with Antler & Turquoise
20. Collection of Face Carved Canes
21. Moses-Inspired Face Carved Cane w/ Antler & Turquoise
22. Shepherd's Stick, Carved Border Collie Welsh-Style Dog Show Trial Stick
23. Carved Oak Leaf Walking Cane with Scrimshaw Artwork
24. Amazing Grace Music Notes Carved Cane
25. A Lady’s Elegant Red Long-Stem Rose Carved Cane
26. Prairie Fire Hand-Carved Hiking Thumb Sticks
27. A Folk-Art Carved Albatross Head & Snake Walnut Cane
28. Carved Folk-Art Walking Cane; 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' Story Stick with Scrimshaw Artwork-
    -

Native American Indian Theme Folk-Art Canes

1. Apache Chief Geronimo Folk-Art Face Cane
2. Folk Art Native American Face Cane Set
3. Apache Chief Cochise Folk-Art Face Cane
4. Folk Art Carved Cane of Shoshone Chief
5. Indian Guides Chief Big-Red-Cloud Hiking Stick
6. Apache Chief Cochise #2 Folk-Art Face Cane
   -
   -

Scrimshaw Artwork Canes

1. Scrimshaw Quail and Bubinga Spiral Dress Cane
2. Scrimshaw Art Trophy Buck Deer Head
3. Scrimshaw Art Walking Cane: Praying Mantis Insect
4. Scrimshaw Art Walking Cane: Floppy Eared Bunny Face & Walnut Barley Twist
5. Big & Tall Barley Twisted Oak with Scrimshawn Handle
6. Walnut & Curly Maple Cane with Scrimshaw
7. Scrimshaw Art Walnut Cane
8. Fancy Barley Twist with Scrimshaw Cane
9. Lady's Dress Cane, Red Oak, Walnut, Black Lacquer, & Scrimshaw Artwork of a Purple Cone Flower
   -
   -

Natural Sapling/Limb Canes/Sticks

1. Ash Sapling with Elk Antler and Inlays of Crushed Turquoise
2. Knarly Cedar Driftwood Topped Sapling Stick
3. Folk-Art Carved Wood Spirit Hiking Stick
4. Nanny McPhee Movie-Inspired Crooked Walking Stick
5. Naturally Twisted Tree Sapling Cane
6. Naturally Twisted Tree Sapling Walking Stick
7. Shepherd's Crook Hiking Stick
8. Black Locust Tree Sapling Walking Stick
9. Red BirchTree Sapling Hiking Stick
   -
   -

Fancy Barley-Twist Style Dress Canes

1. Fancy Barley Twisted Ebonized Oak & Elk Antler Cane, Serial No. 2009-05
2. Big & Tall Walnut & Maple Barley Twist Custom Cane
3. Big & Tall Red Oak and Antler with Scrimshaw Monogram
4. White Oak Barley Twist Cane
5. Osage Orange Barley Twist Cane
6. Walnut & Figured Maple Barley Twist cane
7. Black Walnut and Spalted Sycamore Barley Twist
8. Red Oak Barley Twist with Black Lacquer
9. Red Oak Barley Twist with Walnut Handle
10. Dress Cane, Oak Barley Twist with Walnut Ring
11. Bryan's Cane, The Start of my Cane Journey
    -
    -

Fancy Dress Style Canes

1. Ribbed Walnut Cane with Camphor Burl Derby Handle
2. African Blackwood and Lapis Lazuli Ball Walking Stick
3. Pink Ivory and Elk Antler Dress Walking Stick
4. Coiled Ribbon Twisted Spalted White Oak with Walnut Handle
5. Polished Black Steer Horn Upright Walking Stick
6. Mexican Bocote Wood, Elk Antler Handle with Hand-Wrought Fine Silver End Caps
7. Fancy Walking Cane, Camphor Burl, Maple, Bubinga, Whitetail Deer Antler, Inlays & Silver End Caps
8. Custom Dress-Up Walking Cane, Walnut shaft with a Camphor Burl Handle
9. Walnut & Buffalo Horn Twisted Cane
10. White Birch & Buffalo Horn Twisted Cane
11. Walnut Bamboo-Style Cane with Chrome Ball Top
12. Walnut & Buffalo Horn Dress Cane
13. Bird's Eye Maple Cane
14. Spalted Sycamore Walking Cane
15. Walnut Tall Knob Top Opera Cane
16. Zebrawood & Walnut Knob Top Opera Cane
17. Dress Cane Set, with several Material Options Shown
    -
    -

Click here to go to My Website page with Walking Canes

I usually have a few canes in stock at:

1. Hatman Jack’s Wichita Hat Works in Wichita, Kansas
2. Prairie Past Times Antiques & Crafts in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas

You can contact these gallery stores directly and see what they still have in stock. They will ship to you if you buy something. If you prefer, you can also email me, as I keep fairly current on what is “unsold.”

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Background: My Cane Making Story:

I enjoy sculpting walking canes. Some folks call them Folk-Art Canes, while others call them Artisan Canes, some call them Carved Canes, while others call them Walking Sticks. There is quite a bit of argument about whether something should be called Sculpture or Carving. They could be considered Functional-Art, which is the type of work that I am usually drawn to. No matter what these canes are called, they seem to bring joy to the owners, and I have been asked to make quite a few of them in the past 5-6 years.

I started making canes on the request of a nice married couple I met on a church-building short-term mission trip to Mexico City in the early 1990’s. Several years after our trip, their son-in-law was diagnosed with bone cancer, and so they wanted to get him a specially made cane that he would enjoy using. They had heard from others that I had quit my corporate office job and started doing woodworking full-time. So, they contacted me to make his cane.

Sadly, I also built him a casket, another first for me, about a year later

Since the time I did that first Cane for Bryan, I have enjoyed the work on the canes that I have been able to make, but more importantly, the people that I have been able to meet and help along the journey. I do make a bunch of unique items and furniture, but without a doubt, I receive more correspondence and thank-you cards from cane customers than any of the other items I make, combined. So, they are fun for me to build, and I look forward to each new person and situation.

To keep a handle on all of the memories, I engrave a small serial number on each brass cane tip, and then I keep a detailed database log of each cane, customer, and situation. The list always brings me warm memories each time I scan it and remember the folks that have supported my work over the years, and vice versa.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Still Want to See more of my work?

Start with each of these links, and they will take you to other organized lists of my other niche products:

1. Custom Knives
2. Custom Art-Furniture I've Built
3. Artisan Hat Making Tools

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com