First attempt was not so great.
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By the second attempt, I had a feel for it.
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I cheated and used barbecue skewers as the dart shafts, and sewing thread as the binder, but the rest is home brew except for Old Hickory. (I still have my "Oh, $h!+" knife)
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Pictured is the thistle heads, not quite exploded, but the flowers have turned brown. sewing thread from a bobbin, Beeswax to make the thread sticky, and skewers. I generally make my darts about 6" long, so cut the skewer to length, then split the blunt end about an inch. I generally use about 5-6 feet of thread and cut off the excess when I'm done. Wax (or rosin) your string heavily, start in the split and tie a couple knots on opposite sides to keep the string from slipping, and wrap the split end a few times so it will not separate.
Preparing the thistle heads is a little tricky depending on their maturity. I have really tough hands, but thistles are really spiky, so if you have tender hands, you might want a glove for this part. Hold the thistle head upright in your fist with the flowers sticking up. Just barely grab each flower and pull it out. Two things can happen here depending on the maturity of the thistle head. Either it is not mature enough and the flowers and down come out together, OR the flowers pull right out and leave the fluffies intact. Once a head has started opening and releasing the seeds, it is too late to use it, so collect them as soon as the flowers start to turn brown and if you need to store them, you can split a piece of bamboo or rivercane and store them in the chamber until ready to use.
You'll have to pull the bracts down and out of the way to grip the fluffies. Roll your hand over so that the pappus hairs are to the back of your hand and the seeds are toward your palm. From this position you can simply rub the seeds off the ends of the fluffies with your fingernail. DO NOT LOSE YOUR GRIP ON THE FLUFFIES!
Place your prepared skewer, fletching end toward your palm, sharp point toward your other hand, between your thumb and palm, and put the string in your mouth so you can keep it tight as you roll the skewer.
As you begin to twist the skewer, the sticky string will slowly pick up a few fluffies at a time and bind them to the shaft. You will slowly push the skewer deeper into your grip to keep the fluff moving toward the tip of the shaft. Don't worry if it looks messy right now. As you run out of fluff, you'll simply wrap the forward end many times, reminiscent of old hafting, then tie knots so that it will not come undone. The string is sticky so this part is a little tricky, but you'll get it
It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. It might take a few tries to make pretty ones, but it is actually really easy. Who am I kidding.. They don't need to be pretty, they just need to WORK!
I learned this from a video by Bo Brown of Bois de Arc. He doesn't explain anything in the video, so hopefully the explanation above will clear up anything you might have questions about.
http://youtu.be/M68b6p4WwBk
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