GUESS WHAT!They came this morning! And they are really cool! It's a strange feeling having them in my room. It's weird having 18 slings in my room that I got for $3.50 a piece (plus shipping). I feel like we're giving whoever made them a good year or something. It's a blessing living in the places where we live, and being able to spend time slinging rocks for just pleasure. These things look sooo, organic! I don't know how else to say it. I feel like they are pieces of history or something. Barak is probably laughing at me if he's reading this. But these things look like they've come out of a village. Which I guess is true. The wool used is obviously homespun. This isn't 4 ply craftstore yarn! It's basic homemade stuff. It's bulky looking. The alpaca have two types of fur I think, and I can see it in the slings. The colors are obviously natural. Alpacas come in atleast 20 natural colors I believe. There may be sheep's wool in these too, mixed in. I'm not sure. Oh yeah, and they smell like alpaca
There are atleast two types of braids coming off the cradles. A diamond pattern on some, and another straight type of braid on some of the others.
One thing that surprised me is the size. Most of the slings are bigger than I expected. You can sling some pretty big stones with these. A few of the slings are smaller and a few are larger.
The quality is mixed. There are a few that are really well made. And about 2/3 or them are pretty nice. About 1/3 of them are kinda rough.
Here are pictures to illustrate.
This one is one of the nicer 2/3rds. Not the nicest, but nice.
This one is one of the rougher ones.
Here's a picture of the whole group layed out.
I have more pictures, but these give the best idea. I think we have possibly 2 or 3 different sling makers here. Or maybe a father and son team or something. The quality is of three categories, the size of the finger loops varies considerably between slings. The braiding patterns vary between slings, and the finishing method for the release cord varies between slings. I'm not going to thoroughly investigate this but I suspect atleast 2 different sling makers here to account for some of the factors.
My complaints about some of the lower quality slings are a general bulkiness in the cords, some gaps in the cradle braiding, and/or lack of correct symetry, a weaker or rougher finish on the release cord end, and an oversized finger loop.
The nicer slings still look homespun, but are more symetrical, tighter, and less rough. There are a few slings that are exceptionally nice.
You can see in the pictures that there are a few different patterns and colors. To me, they are all uniquely beautiful. There is something about them because they are so primative and organic that is just intriguing.
I'm going to divide the slings up to make sure that those who only receive one sling, will receive a nice enough one to make it worth their while. But those who receive more than one will receive a mix of some of the nicest with some of the roughest- to kinda even things out for them. I'll send each of you pictures of what I plan to send you. Some of these you won't mind using, and some you'll probably want hung on your wall.
What I'm going to do is write everyone individually at this point with the details of how to pay me, and with the pictures and other information. Expect an email from Whipartist in your mailbox later today. If I don't have your email, I'll post on here to ask you to write me.
Ben