I like my first attempt at making a quiver from stuff I had at home but the best thing it did for me was let me experiment enough to realize that a) a stiffer form would be a lot easier to use, and b) I'm not really a belt quiver kind of girl.
So, on to quiver #2!
(Actually twin quivers, which allowed me to take lots of pictures after I figured out that the first one was going to work.)
This time I want to make something stiffer. Prefferably something that can be used as either a back OR a standing quiver, and if I can figure out a way to make a protective cover for the feathered ends of my arrows when not in use, so much the better.
Based on the idea of expandable cardboard shipping tubes I'm trying for a cylinder about 2/3's of the length of my arrows which can be fit inside another larger tube to cover the fletching when not in use.
I was thinking about buying PVC pipe in two sizes to make the forms, but since I didn't get to the store before my patience wore out I went with stuff I had in the house instead. You know what we have a lot of? Seltzer bottles! And cardboard!
It takes three per quiver, one with the original bottom left intact, and two cut to retain only the straight-sided sections.
Since I am trying for a blow-by-blow rendition, I'll mention that I found my kitchen shears worked well on both the cardboard and plastic parts. I pinched the bottle to make a place to start my cut
then hacked the top off above the label
and after the top was off I cut an even top line by using the bottle label as a guide. Note that I'm cutting while looking at the inside of the bottle. I found it was much easier to manage the scissors on this inside curve and I got a straighter line as a result.
After I evened out the tops I took off the lables and discovered that at the bottom of the label my bottle already had a nifty guideline so I pinched and cut again on two of my set of three bottles.
Then I connected the three sections together with clear packing tape (it's been 'send wedding present' season at my house so we had it) inside and out.
That makes a nice tube at a good height for my arrows and back so the next step was to weight the bottom a bit to help it hang straight when empty and stand up if set on the ground. i used a leftover bottom piece to make a false bottom with pennies sandwiched inside for weight. I put two pennies in each of the little foot ridges at the bottoms tacked the tube on top and taped the whole thing together. (Note: that's not really heavy enough to keep it standing upright on an uneven surface or in a wind so i made a later adjustment.)
Then I stiffened it with cardboard around the outside. (Note: I later added a layer of cardboard on the inside of the tube also. It makes it heavier, stiffens it a bit more and keeps the arrow tips from pulling the tape off of the inside of the bottle.)
I finished it up by adding a bottom of cardboard and the plastic lid from a to-go order of soup (it was the perfect size!) and stuffing the inside bottom with a bit of the packing foam which came with my arrows to protect the tips.
I had to add a chunk of fallen branch to weight the quiver down at practice since the wind has been pretty frisky, but other than that It works!
Next up, adding a fabric cover and strap.
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