"Green Man" Kilt pin

**MacGowan** · 20th September 12, 12:11 PM

I just finished this. After making the Sgian Dubhs, I've become addicted to the "Green Man" motif. It kind of hits home. I was born and raised in the Oregon Cascades. I've spent a very large part of my 62 years in the woods, exploring, hiking, and hunting.

I've often been in very remote areas where I've felt that there was something spiritual present. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. The feelings / instincts are at times so over whelmingly freightening I leave a quickly as possible, other times so serene, that I've felt that I could not be harmed, as if I was being protected by some unseen entity. The Indians called them Windigos (Forest Spirits).

I know.., my Wife thinks I'm nuts too. She rarely goes with me to these areas, if ever, and has never experienced them herself.

I wanted to have a Kilt pin similar to that, you might find in a Highland village 200 years ago.

It's made from a Black Tail Deer antler fork, and a piece of Elk antler. It measures 3-3/4" x 1-1/2". I'm had trouble capturing the detail, due to poor lighting. I need to build a light booth..

**kylewsnow** · 20th September 12, 12:38 PM

That is very cool. I have a cast metal green man pin I am using, it was a gift from my brother for standing at his wedding. I too feel some things in the woods, you are not nuts.

Kyle

**Friday** · 20th September 12, 01:22 PM

I have always bee a fan of the Green Man, yours looks very nice.

**MacGowan** · 20th September 12, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by kylewsnow

That is very cool. I have a cast metal green man pin I am using, it was a gift from my brother for standing at his wedding. I too feel some things in the woods, you are not nuts.

Kyle

Thank you! I'll tell my Wife.

I have a friend who is 3/4 Sioux , raised in the "Old Ways". We used to hunt together quite often. We were sitting around a camp fire after a long day of Elk hunting, trying to destroy a bottle of smooth Jack Daniels green label. I had been in a place earlier that morning, where I distictly heard a voice come out of a large old growth Douglas fir tree. It sounded like it said "Be away!" as in be gone, or away with you? At the same time I felt an uncontrollable urge to get out of there. The voice didn't bother me, but something didn't want be there. And I didn't want to be there.

After a couple of good swallows of JD I decided to confide the incident to my friend. When I told him I was probably hearing things , but that it was too real to be my imagination. He started laughing, and said," Hell, you met a Windigo!" He then went on to describe the place I had gone, and said "I never go up there, and if I had known you were going there I would have stopped you."

**Piipriker** · 20th September 12, 01:50 PM

I'm not a big fan of antler, but this is a very nice pin.

One tip:
if you use a DSLR and own a system flash, select a place with as much daylight as possible, put the "model" parallel to the (white) ceiling and point the flash against the ceiling.
When the photo is too bright, you can (if possible) operate the flash on manual mode (i.e. 1/2 strength or 1/4 or ) or use manual mode on the DSLR or play with EV-correction in the camera (-1/2 , -2/3 and so on). And shoot RAW, you can get so much more out of the pictures that way.

**CMcG** · 20th September 12, 01:59 PM

I dig the pin and what it symbolizes.

**MacGowan** · 20th September 12, 02:05 PM

Thanks everyone.

Here's a photo I took a couple of years ago. The other side had broken off of the bole, creating an interesting silhouette. A Real Green Man...

**MacGowan** · 20th September 12, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Piipriker

I'm not a big fan of antler, but this is a very nice pin.

One tip:
if you use a DSLR and own a system flash, select a place with as much daylight as possible, put the "model" parallel to the (white) ceiling and point the flash against the ceiling.
When the photo is too bright, you can (if possible) operate the flash on manual mode (i.e. 1/2 strength or 1/4 or ) or use manual mode on the DSLR or play with EV-correction in the camera (-1/2 , -2/3 and so on). And shoot RAW, you can get so much more out of the pictures that way.

I usually do try to use natural light, but there's a light mist falling and I was getting too much glare. I don't have any decent indoor lighting. Thanks for the information, I appreciate any help I can get.