Latest / Salish Wolf / #62 Enrico Maraggi on Project Quiver

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#62 Enrico Maraggi on Project Quiver · Salish Wolf

0:06
Welcome to Project Quiver, a father daughter journey across
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the globe to capture the artistry and spirit of the
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world's finest traditional bow carvers.
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I'm Todd, the father. Ella is my daughter.
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Together we're on a mission to create a stunning coffee table
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book that profiles more than a dozen master bow years and their
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unparalleled skill. For each chapter, we travel to
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the Bow Years workshop. Carve a bow under his guidance,
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photograph his woodcraft in detail and share his story here
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on the Salish. Wolf Podcast.
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The Book. Is called Quiver the art of life
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Through Bowcraft and this journey, our living story is
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Project Quiver. Thank you for joining me today.
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You are in Northern Italy, right?
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I'm waiting for you and your daughter.
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Yes, what? What's the name of the place
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where you are in? Italy.
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I live in a town near the Garda lake called Bilanova Villeneuve.
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In English, it's OK, Villanova. It must be beautiful there.
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Lauren, I must say these, I recently separated from my wife.
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So I live alone, far from my wife and from my two daughters.
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And he's something that I don't like to speak with because he's
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still a natural separation and no more people know about this.
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So many people think that I still live where I live before
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my separation, that these a little town on the Lake of Garda
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that was a, a way some place lake mountains, these places not
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so this town is not like the the, the one I lived in before.
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So. OK, but that is nice.
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That's life, yeah. Exactly.
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Well, let's talk about archery. How did you get into archery?
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Well the first time that actually came into my life I was
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about 810 years old and only member and my ankle gave me a
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kids bowl. It was a good one, not a toy.
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It had the wooden hero, wooden shaft heroes and iron tips and
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it's strange that a kid of 10 years could shot this kind of
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off errors. But I was leave free to do what
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I wanted and I used this ball for one year in the countryside
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when we were used to go during the summer holidays.
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And I was a child and I tried to to shoot the tires of the
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farmers trucks or to his chicken.
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But I was not a good Archer as I am not a good watcher now.
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So no tires and no chicken were hit and I broke and lost all the
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arrows in the grass. Anyway, the here that followed,
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we stopped going there. We were growing and our parents
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decided to do go somewhere else for the the holidays.
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So I lost sight of of that bull and in the 4040 years that
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followed, I never fell before the the desire to have a ball
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and to shoot some errors. So archery and ball making,
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these didn't exist for me. It was nothing and that child
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experience apparently leaves no consequences.
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Then happened something for the 40 years later I I decided to to
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have a survival course in Italy. Just a basic, basic course.
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Some knowledge, some basic knowledge, and nothing more.
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We had we had a lot of food with us, so more the the survival was
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a convivial course. But that single night spent in
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the in the booth, in contact with nature was enough to re
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weaken in me something latent and ancestral and something that
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I can still understand. But when I came back home after
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that experience, something pushed me to to begin crafting
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something with Buddha and some days later to to ball to to to
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craft the ball. And so I can say that ball
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making entering my life in a unexpected and an unjustified
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matter. I I cannot still understand what
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happened and but that's it that that everything was born from
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that day in the in this bushcraft survival course.
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And how long ago was that day? One day it was it was a one
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night course. But how?
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How many years ago? It was 201877 here ago, OK.
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And I began with Bokra bowl making in the 2018 in the May
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2018 OK. Well, you've come a long way in
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those seven years. Your bows are beautiful.
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So you began bow carving in 2018.
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Did you have any teachers that helped you learn?
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I know that eventually. No, you, you.
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I know eventually you studied under Whalen.
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I believe that was last year at Sweetwood Bows when you began.
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Did you have any teachers? No, I can say that I'm a 99% of
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self self-made ballmakers. I had no teachers and no mentors
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who can who could spy me with his passion to do the same or
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show me one of his both And the web was my teacher because after
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that course I when I was home, I I browsing, I browsed for hours
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a day for mouse and and here in search of information.
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I didn't know anything about ball and ball making and boot.
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And I think that in the early years I saw and read, downloaded
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and sometimes printed everything that I was to to see and to
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read. When I browse now in Internet, I
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found a picture, say I just seen a video and just just seen and
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it was almost an obsession for me.
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And only last year when I was in the in a troubled period of my
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life, I I said to myself, leave and I, I decide to join whaling,
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a professional ball maker for a workshop, ball making workshop
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and the it's been a great workshop.
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Whaling is a master and a very nice person and I had many
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confirmation from that workshop that I was on the right way.
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I learned many trick or treats of the trade and some charcoal
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short shortcuts shortcuts and so I my style has slightly changed
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it after that that workshop. Even if I learn after the first
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bow I crafted after the ball making course that I cannot
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apply the design of an Osage bowl to a locust bowl or a Hazel
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bowl. I already knew it, but I made in
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a mistake after that workshop trying to make an Osage design
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bowl with a locust a local good. Right, well, I have noticed some
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of Waylon's influence and some of your bows that you've been
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posting. He, he is an amazing teacher.
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What an experience to go and learn from him.
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He's such a, a perfectionist. It's amazing to see what he can
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do. So outside of Beau carving, what
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are your interests or or passions?
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Well, I'm not a professional ball maker, I am employed as a
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chief department in a private company.
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So I should say that ball making is my hobby.
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But I cannot consider it my hobby because it is a sort deep
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special for me that I consider it a mission more than a
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passion. So bow making in this period is
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the fulfill all my life of my free time is for bow making, for
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research of information and for crafting and for outbursting a
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booth. So the answer is a nothing else
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except the bow making. Before bow making I had many
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other hobbies. I like to cover something with
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good and and so on. I I used to read many books of
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various various arguments. But now bow making is is my
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life. I love it.
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So I cannot stop doing this and I cannot do something something
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else. That's a common story.
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It is very, I guess you use the word addictive and time
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consuming. It's all consuming.
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Yeah. It's many bow years just get
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lost in the actual act of carving bows and and it's it's
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hard to come out of that. It's a whole nother world we get
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transported to. Yeah.
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How has bow making and archery or archery changed your life?
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Well, I just said it's in vomiting completely changing my
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life and my vision of it and my approach to to it and for the
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passions that I have ever had in my life.
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I feel the disease the most intense and lasting and maybe
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because it's something that I don't know why it came from
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within and it's not imposed or self-imposed.
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It's something that is was born. I don't know why and just said a
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considerable making for me, like a seed planted in the ground
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that was ready to to to sprout. And I have learned many things
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from boot carving and in particular from ball making.
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First, I want to say that I like to have a low profile.
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And a friend of mine, Maori would say too much low profile.
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And he's right. And I've worked for 5-6 years in
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the silent of my, my sheep, you know, close in my, in my, in my
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world. And it is so deep passion for
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bombaking. Give me the courage to dare to
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step out and to to participate to trade fairs about bombaking
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to historical exhibitions or reenactments, you know, and give
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me the courage to call me into questions and to dare offering
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my Bo and collecting and receiving many appreciation.
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And it is something that had would have never thought to do
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before Bo making entering my life, including his interview.
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Oh. Not just an interview, you're
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going to be in a book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK.
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Yeah, entering the book, is it for me the same.
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And So what they are learned from good from.
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For example, the first ball I crafted were too too strong for
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me. I didn't was able to to to draw
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to full length. They didn't match my strength
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because I like the idea to have a strong ball and thought that
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people would have liked the idea that I had a strong ball.
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But he hadn't sense it was all ego and I learned to to accept
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my my limits. So if I can draw a 40 lbs bow,
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it must make for myself 40 LB bow.
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It not there's no sense to make a 60 LB bow for who?
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And therefore my single a single knot of of a bow.
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I learned self acceptance that is like yourself for who you are
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because you don't have to hide your physical or not physical
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flows because they contribute to, to make yourself unique,
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irrepressible, you know, And just like a knot on the in the
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stave, if we have a knot in the wrong place on of a stave, you
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must leave it, you must respect it, you must go with it.
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And if you do so, your bow will compensate you.
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If you cut it off, you probably will have a cleaner stave, a
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cleaner bowl, but probably also a broken bowl one day or later
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or later on the other. So I dare to accept myself for
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how I am. What else?
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Patience, I think that bow making is the art of patience in
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in seasoning, in glowing, in tillering while ceiling.
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You must wait. So don't rush, be patient and
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give people and yourself the time you need and time they
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need. Can I go on?
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Must I go on? You can go on if you.
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Want to what else? Well I will just interrupt you
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for a second to say I know that English is not your first
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language, but your descriptions are beautiful.
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Thank you. I'm really enjoying listening to
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how this has influenced your life and and what you've learned
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from it. It's it's incredible.
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So it's more more important the message than the than the word I
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think you're doing. Great.
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The words are great. It's it's beautiful.
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Carry on if you want. OK, caution.
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You can only remove wood, you cannot reattach wood.
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So the consequences of some action cannot be reversible.
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You cannot be able to to to come back.
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So things before you act and energy.
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A ball stores energy to be released.
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If you don't release the energy of your ball, no arrows will
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ever fly and the limb would suffer.
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And so we are so we don't have to hold our physical and mental
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energy or we will fall here. So we must learn to store, to
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accumulate, to store and no accumulate, to release, not
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accumulate just to accumulate and and so on.
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I think that what making for me is not a is not only
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craftsmanship is a philosophy, it's a dip love and the
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philosophy of life. Beautiful.
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Those are some well thought out answers.
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Enrico, thank you for that. I really enjoyed that.
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When did you turn your bow making into a bit of a when did
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you give it a name? Because you do have a website,
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you have a social media profile. What is the name of your brand
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and when did that come? About brand, I recently gave
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myself a brand since I low low profile I didn't post it.
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It's archaica bows. Archaica is not an English word,
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is from Italian language or from Latin.
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Anyway, the the meaning is the same, but I wanted to to join
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the tradition to the the modern word and it evokes something of
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primitive. Primitive and yeah.
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What is the English translation of Archaica?
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Archaic, archaic, archaic. Archaic.
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Is is that the same? Archery is that No, it's.
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The same in Italian, but without the a, the final a archaic.
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But what is? What does that translate to in
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English? I I think it's archaic.
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Archaic. And that's you.
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Can search for it but. All right.
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I thought I looked it up once, but I forget.
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Archaic. OK, OK, OK.
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It was. Just so that means, yeah, well,
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everyone knows archaic, so old primitive, yes, OK.
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And I like that it has that similar feeling of, of archery
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of Arc Arco. It's yeah.
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The same same route it seems to be.
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It's not. It's not so bad.
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It seems to be in the same route.
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Yeah. And when was that that you came
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up with that? A couple of here, No, not last
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year, 20/20/24 OK. Were you selling bows prior or
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when did you start selling bows? Well, the first bow I sold was
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in 2019, the hill following my beginning with borne archery and
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but I must say first these only recently I have accepted the
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idea of separate from my bows that for me were like my
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children. My first bowl were made for
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myself not to be to be sell to be sold.
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And you know, we, we attract what we really thinks and we
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attract what we really desire, even if we don't know and we
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build our our reality. We are our thought and I was in
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that state of mind that the balls were were for mine and not
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to be sold. So for some long period I didn't
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sell any ball because I attracted what I wanted.
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Anyway, in the 2019 I crafted the ball for an acquaintance
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that knew that I made both. It was a black low poster flat
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bowl rawhide Beckett because I had a problem with my with the
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measurement of the moisture with my tools and I thought that the
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stay was too dry, but it wasn't. Anyway, I didn't wanted to risk
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and rawhide back at the pool. It was painted with Native
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American motifs and painted with aniline and white hex and
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shellac. OK and I glued to Sia at the end
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the limbo because the stage that I had was too short for his
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drawing. And I had a great satisfaction
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when I gave him the ball. He didn't see that ball till it
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was finished since it was finished.
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And when he saw it for the first time, he looked at the ball and
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said, just said you put your soul into it.
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And he understood in one side everything because I really put
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my heart and my soul in that bowl as I continued to put
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really my soul in every bowl that I that I built.
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And I took some risk with that ball because it was the first
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time that I made a rawhide backet ball and that I made a
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bow. We see ya, but I know that that
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ball is still shooting, so I'm very proud of it.
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Wow, that's that's beautiful. Yeah, that was so that.
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The very first pause first Instagram is related to piece of
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bone is the first IE. Oh, is it posted after three
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years? Yeah.
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OK, I'll look at that. So that was the first bow you
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gave or sold the someone? What was the first bow that you
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actually made? With the first bowl was a rough
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bowl never became a bowl. And when I came back from the
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survivor course I asked to my firewood supply suppliers for a
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log and from that log of locals I had my 4 1st 4 staves to to
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build with. And at that time I had no idea
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of how a bowl was made was to be made.
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I had no the right tools, no scrapers, no throw knife, no
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spokeshaves, no rafts anything. I only had a knife that have
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been given me that I have been given at the coast, one or two
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clamps and carpenter's table without device.
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I search in the Internet about the first information about wood
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and ball making and I read about black locust wood that I haven't
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never heard before. And when I knew that black
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locust is our Robinia Robinia Sauda Casa and that is very
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common in the place I live as somewhere else.
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I asked for to my fatherhood to cut a log from me.
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That bow never became a bow because I removed both here and
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there without any regard to the the balance of the limb and I
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brutally strung it and pull to, to to full draw and it developed
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cracks everywhere, Creasas on the belly, it cracks on the on
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the back. So it just like a souvenir.
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It's like it's a rough bulk that never shot.
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After that, I crafted a second one that was more successful.
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And at the time, after several some weeks, I had a draw knife
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and the raft that helped me. And then I in the meanwhile had
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searched for information about making a bow.
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I can say now that the killer of that bow was almost dechant
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almost. But due more to the beginner's
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luck than the to my skills. And anyway, I was able to to
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string that bow to string that bow and to shoot some heroes and
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I was not very confident in what I did.
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The first heralds were shot to from 5m from from the target.
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I pulled the the ball to 10 inches and no more 1012 inches.
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And I have the protection, I ice protection because I was waiting
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for a disclosure and but then when I saw that nothing
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happened, I squeezed at the draw land and then increase the
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distance from the target. And I have shot with that ball
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for some months then couldn't last because I told you earlier
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the design was the one of the Osage bow found in Internet.
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So that bow was too short and too narrow for black locust and
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I didn't even he treated the belly.
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So he developed some cracks on the side profile and crease out.
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So now he's together with the rough bow, he made company.
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Now I'm going to back up a moment about the first bow you
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sold because I went to your Instagram and I looked at your
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photos of that bow. How did you put the extension on
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the tips to make it longer? I've never seen that.
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And. Well, they are just it's not,
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it's not an insert. They just one on the other.
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They see you on the on the back of the bowl.
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Yeah. Go together and wrapped with
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what was that linen? OK.
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And it wasn't splice the that in blue splice or other just just
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loot 1 on the other. I can't believe that's strong
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enough. Yeah, it was like.
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You seen it was a fear. I don't, I don't remember how
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pounds it was, but it was not heavy.
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It was not heavy. Had you seen that done before or
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was that your own? Idea last year, yeah, I've seen
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that, yeah. Yeah, that's crazy.
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It's beautiful bow. Well done.
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So you spoke in a black locust. What?
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What's your actual favorite bow? Wood.
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Well, I love to work with all hardwoods and I don't enjoy
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working with softwood. And there's a reason one of my
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favorite stages of bow making is when I search for my bow within
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the the state. That means drawing the front
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profile on the back. Not only drawing the front
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profile, not only positioning it around the state, but also
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searching for the most suitable ring for each purpose to be the
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back of the boat. That means carving with a shaft
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draw knife through the sapwood and if necessary through some
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rings of hardwood. And I like this stage of bow
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making because it's a just like a it's very relaxing and I find
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it as a made-up the exercise to focus on the here and now.
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In fact, one of the last bow I made and the last that I saw is
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Rawhide Beckett because in just one second of inner tension, I
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thought to something else and I cut completely off and off on
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the back. So chasing the ring is for me is
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a meter to the exercise and we've a soft, soft booth.
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We wide wood. It's not the case you you just
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the bark your sapling or your stave and and go roughing out
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the belly. Anyway, as you can see, my
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favorite boot is black locust, with which of which I have
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fortunately 10s of seasoning stave and it's very common.
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Hazel. I don't like Hazel but it's
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common, so I work with with. Laburnum is a protected tree in
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Italy. You cannot or you couldn't cut
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it without permission and it grows at the medium or high
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altitude and not near the town I live, so it's more difficult to
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harvest high Harvested these three in a boot.
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That's the winter. Do you harvest all the black
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locust staves? Yeah.
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So those grow near you. What?
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Do they grow near you where you live?
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Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but they grows everywhere.
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Everywhere. Great.
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And I'm doing that some people allow you to to cut the the tree
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because it's, I don't know how to say it's a.
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Is it a? Is it a native tree?
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Is it from there? No, it it's not invasive.
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Locust is has been introduced in Europe some century ago.
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It's not it's a vote a tree from America and tend to to kill the
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other the other tree. That's invasive, yeah, we would
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say. Yeah, Well.
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Sometimes some someone hello you to cut the the tree.
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That's a great way to get a source of boat.
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What if you carve from a tree that is invasive and people want
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it cut down? That's yeah, it's a good way to
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to build your your storage of staves.
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It's much like Corey Hawk in Nebraska.
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His favorite wood is called hackberry.
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And it's not from, it's not from where he lives.
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And so people call him to come and cut down hackberry trees
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because they're invasive. So that's what he uses as his
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bow wood. So it's great.
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Unlike Osage, which is so prized and so hard to get or, or you
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would even. So it's it's great to work with
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a wood like that. I'm carving A Laburnum bow in
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Switzerland with Simon Kell. Which would.
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Laburnum, I'll be carrying a bow.
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And I love laburnum. I made only two balls in
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laburnum 1 broke. OK.
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Oh. I don't know and the other is I
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finished a bowl from some years ago is but it's too heavy for
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what I was saying now is a 60 lbs bowl and I can draw it.
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So I want to reiterate, and we'd use the drawaway to 4045 Max,
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right? I will reward it.
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What are we carving when I'm there?
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Are we going to be using black locust?
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What? When I come there are we carving
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a bow and black locust? We have black locust, we have
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Hazel. But I don't like Hazel.
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Some you. Well, we can.
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Locust is your favorite. Let's carve with black locust.
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Yeah, I love black locust. He must be he Treaty on the
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belly to voice results. A little weak in compression,
35:20
but must be correctly treated. And what style of bow do you
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normally carve with black locust?
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Well, I like right with locals you cannot do deep profile bows.
35:32
I like the I like flat belly bows American style bow and with
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these kind of the style you can use your fantasy imagination to
35:49
do what you want. You can play with with the shape
35:52
of the handle, the shape of of tip over laser.
36:00
I love recurve or semi recurve, both working or static recur
36:10
because the the side profile of a full drone recurve.
36:15
As for me, an incredible appeal. I think it's very, very sleek,
36:20
very elegant and so I like to to craft flat belly balls American
36:28
style ball for this reason, I never know how a ball would be
36:34
when finished. I like to to start without a
36:43
project and for this reason I don't like to work working with
36:51
you and making English Longbow style.
36:56
English Longbow style is that that way you cannot do what you
37:02
want. It must be, it must follow the
37:06
the rules of the tradition. And that's why I crafted only
37:13
two longbows in these here Yulong bows.
37:20
And you use what do you put on the the ends of your bows?
37:24
The knocks? Or do you are they self knocks
37:27
cut into the wood or do you use bone?
37:30
I also saw you use a nut for some.
37:33
Of them, yeah. Sometimes I use a nut.
37:35
It depends. In the last four, Four of the
37:40
five last bows I crafted have cell knocks.
37:45
There were bowls to be sold so they had to be not too much
37:53
expensive because in Italy people do not spend a lot of
37:59
money for a bowl for a traditional bowl.
38:02
There's not a trade market in traditional bowl making.
38:08
Sometimes I use wood for tip over laser abony.
38:19
The red 1 I don't remember how we caught is I don't remember.
38:27
What is the? Is it a togua nut?
38:30
What kind of nut is it that you use on your Instagram?
38:37
You have it TAUTAGUA. Is that tagua?
38:42
That's a. That's an act.
38:44
It's an palm from Ecuador, but I was thinking about a boot, a red
38:50
boot from Australia, I don't remember.
38:53
Australia Redwood. Yeah, I.
38:57
I think that the the. I can only think of like Acacia
39:00
and eucalyptus trees but. I don't know, maybe I would
39:06
remember later. Yeah, I find that the the people
39:09
were raised in Taguanat is very, very elegant.
39:14
I was fair that it was annoying the knot, but it doesn't.
39:17
So it's a just strong join when growing together with the boot.
39:23
And it works or they did they hold up well.
39:28
What? Did the toggle nuts last long?
39:31
Is there? Is there a limitation to them or
39:33
they make very good tips? I haven't found any limitation.
39:37
OK. That's really cool.
39:39
They're beautiful. Yeah.
39:41
Yeah, I like them a lot. I'm just looking up.
39:44
You said it's an Australian Redwood.
39:48
OK, I see. Yeah, Red.
39:49
Is that what you said? Yeah.
39:55
No, I can't find it. Anyway, red Malay, It was red.
39:58
Is it red Malay? Fred Malay.
40:02
OK, I'm not familiar with it. What?
40:06
What tools do you normally carve with Enrico?
40:09
What tools? What tools do you carve with?
40:11
What are your favorites? Well, my favorite one is
40:15
scrapers with which you can remove a little wood, a lot of
40:20
wood, the pants. I don't like spokeshave because
40:28
it's difficult to to sharp. I have a spokeshave but I never
40:33
used because I cannot sharpen. It's very difficult to do and I
40:41
like to work with a really sharp draw knife for Rafael, the belly
40:49
and the side profile of the bow. And even if I know that it's not
40:53
a recommended, it's not recommended for the other bow
40:56
makers. I use these sharp draw knife
40:59
also for the for chasing the back of the bow, not to walk
41:06
through the final ring. I leave just a thin layer of
41:12
poles early Buddha or the part of the the ring above my back.
41:23
Especially when I have to correct the with steaming of a
41:27
heat or dry heat the steam for string alignment on twisting.
41:36
Then I remove the the the final ring or the porous Hurley wood
41:42
with a blonde draw knife and the and the script.
41:45
I like to have the back of the belly finished before in before
41:50
starting the artillery. There are no other reason I like
41:54
to have it cleaned as it would be 1 finished.
42:00
I never use Exa for roughing out the side of the stave.
42:05
I don't. I don't like to use that.
42:07
And what else? I hate sanding.
42:12
I hate sanding bought with sandpaper and with the steel
42:20
wool. That is very dangerous.
42:24
Yeah. That is the only.
42:26
The only time I I wear a mask is where I use a stable.
42:33
It's very, but you should be recommended to use a mask even
42:39
when you wore the boot. But I can't do it.
42:43
I can't work with something on my face.
42:45
No and and for me the whole COVID thing absolutely ruined
42:50
masks for me. I never liked them during COVID
42:52
and now I I can't put one on my face.
42:55
Why don't when you you stand there you.
42:58
I should no, and I keep thinking like I should wear a mask.
43:01
Mostly I try to go outside and just position myself so the wind
43:05
takes it away, but I do. I need to figure out something
43:09
if I'm going to be making bows long term because there's so
43:12
much dust that we breathe in when we're doing it and it
43:15
cannot be good for us. Yeah, yeah.
43:19
Do you? Use any machines, any power
43:21
tools. No, nothing.
43:22
Nothing. I have no power tools at all.
43:25
No, no, no, no. Nothing.
43:26
OK, not even a belt Sander. No, no, no, no.
43:32
Yeah, I I had it, but I don't use it.
43:35
Yeah. So what is your workshop like?
43:37
What is the space where you build your boats?
43:40
Well, I have a wooden shed in a corner of my garden, which is
43:47
small is just two per 3 meters, but the rise if there is
43:50
everything I need a Carpenter, a carpenter's table, a vice my
43:55
tours a tiller in three and I have a this second this is this
44:02
was supposed to be a seller. I use it as a warehouse for the
44:07
stays other material Bombiki materials.
44:10
I have a second carpenters table that I built by myself with
44:17
recycled materials and and tillering tree.
44:23
I prefer to work in the wooden shed outside and not here.
44:30
I feel like in a bunker here. I don't like it.
44:34
I prefer to work outside and I love to work when it's raining
44:39
because I love the the sound of the the rain on the on the roof.
44:44
It's, it's vast for me, something it's a vast.
44:49
And sorry, I'm not familiar with the climate where you are.
44:53
Is it warm enough that you can work outside year round?
44:58
Sorry. Is it warm enough where you are
45:00
that you can work outside year round or as it get cold?
45:07
That's. OK, The weather where you live,
45:11
how? How is it?
45:12
It's warm, wet. It's, I live in the north of
45:16
Italy. We are near a lake, so we have a
45:23
warmer war temperature in the winter and the sun degrees less
45:33
in the summer with respect to other places and it's not too
45:40
cold. It's not too hot and it's.
45:44
Perfect. Yeah.
45:47
So in your bow making journey now, do you work with any other
45:52
bow yers? Is there anyone online who you
45:55
collaborate with or anyone who you visit with?
45:57
Well, yeah, if you mean I might say that first, while when I
46:07
created my Instagram account in 2022, and also before that,
46:14
while I was browsing for hours a day in search of information, I
46:21
I learned that there is a network of lawmakers that are
46:25
ready to to collaborate daily and to share experiences,
46:34
suggestions, doubts, information and all.
46:38
And I learned that is a world in which no one or almost no one
46:49
keeps secrets that they don't want, they they don't want to
46:52
share with others. And this for me, is a wonderful
46:56
thing because it's the right spirit with which to approach to
47:00
see to this reality, to this heart.
47:03
And that's because boom boom making and the bow are part of
47:11
the main history for thousands and thousands of here and there
47:15
cannot be secrets in something that has been with human being
47:18
for so many times. And bow making is AI said to
47:25
myself that bow making is a self is a World Heritage.
47:29
It's belongs to everyone. So nobody could could think that
47:35
they hold a copyright or that they have made the the discovery
47:39
of the Millennium regarding this this art.
47:43
So if you mean a collaboration as a exchange of information
47:50
and, and materials, yeah, a business collaboration, no.
47:56
But I have known I personally meet some bookmakers thanks to
48:04
the web, some of whom live near me and we which sometimes I
48:11
exchange materials, information and sometimes we, we made to
48:19
shoot together. So it's a, it's a daily and
48:27
worldwide collaboration, the one between the lawmakers.
48:31
It's a really nice thing. Yeah, and they are very
48:35
generous, as you said, every, everybody who I work with has
48:40
been so incredible and passing their knowledge on to me and has
48:43
taught me so much. And as you said, there's no
48:46
secrets, nothing's withheld. You have a question, you ask and
48:49
you get the answer. And it's it's great.
48:52
We're all sharing it and sharing the joy and continuing the
48:55
legacy of primitive archery. It's beautiful.
48:59
Do you teach others? No, I haven't.
49:04
I didn't teach and I haven't my. No, not yet.
49:11
You're going to teach me? I don't think you need to be
49:15
I'll. I'll be your first student.
49:17
Yes, I definitely taught. I think you no, no.
49:20
No, no, no. That's why I'm doing this.
49:22
I want to learn from everyone. So we'll be more of the.
49:26
No, there's so much to learn from everyone.
49:28
So yeah, I want, I want you to teach.
49:30
Me how to make money for? You and your style, yeah.
49:33
It's it's true anyway, I think that teaching by making is is
49:41
the natural evolution of this is hard because not only because
49:48
it's it's nice to share it and to spread it, but teaching
49:53
together, sorry, teaching something is the best way to fix
50:00
certain concepts in your mind and learning so to how to do
50:06
them even better. Studying is not so efficient
50:15
like teaching. If you teach something at the
50:18
same moment with each, you learn on the during the, the, the
50:25
trade fairs or exhibition, many peoples come and ask for
50:29
information about the bow and bow making.
50:32
And they I knew that while I was picking, I, I told things that I
50:41
even even know to know. Yeah, something inside that come
50:47
out by itself. So the only one yeah about ball
50:56
making course. The things that scares me the
51:00
most about the teaching a a workshop is managing the time,
51:08
because due to my commitments and work, he is not able to for
51:13
me to to start and finish in from a rough stage for a stage
51:19
to a ball finish in 3-4 days. I'm very inconsistent.
51:26
Even if when I have a weeks for me there's always something else
51:30
to do, so you must interrupt. And the the the workshop I made
51:36
with whaling last year was useful also for this to learn
51:42
how to just mute the activities and how to be able to finish the
51:48
ball in three days free and the help they.
51:53
Yeah, yeah. It is something that takes time
51:57
management and dedication too. It's, it's easy for a bow
52:00
project to string out for weeks and weeks and weeks.
52:03
But when you're teaching others and what you said about
52:06
teaching, I I really resonate with that.
52:08
When I started teaching traditional Chinese medicine, I
52:11
felt like I was teaching things that I didn't know, and somehow
52:15
I was teaching my students things that were just coming to
52:17
me. They would ask me questions and
52:19
I would have an answer, and then I would reflect back and be
52:21
like, wow, where did that even come from?
52:22
I didn't know I knew that. Yeah.
52:25
But. Yeah, true.
52:26
Yeah, I think it's, I don't know what it is.
52:28
I think it's something deep within us from our ancestry and
52:31
it's in our DNA, whatever, whatever these things we're
52:34
passionate about. I think we we find our passions
52:37
again and again kind of as as we go through life.
52:40
I don't think it's I don't think you're making bows for for the
52:44
first time. Maybe in this life, but probably
52:46
not in in past lives. Yeah, if you.
52:48
Believe in that, wanted to. I wanted to say this.
52:51
I don't know where my passion for ballmaking count, but maybe
52:55
probably in the some past previous life in which I believe
52:59
so it's possible. Yeah, well, I wish I spoke
53:05
Italian because you have been you have so much wisdom that
53:09
you're sharing with us in English.
53:11
And I know that's not easy for you to do, but it's beautiful.
53:17
Thank you for everything that you've been sharing.
53:19
We. Understand each other so we.
53:24
Basically, I sent you a list of questions.
53:26
We're pretty much at the end of the questions before we kind of
53:30
wrap up. Is there anything else you want
53:31
to share? Yeah.
53:38
No. I there's one question that was
53:40
out of order, but it was where is it?
53:42
Your oh, what's the most exotic wood that you've ever used or
53:46
the most unique wood you've ever used for carving a bow?
53:49
The most exotica. Yeah, the most like different or
53:53
unique type of wood. Well, I can mention I I crafted
54:05
a child bowl more than a kid bowl with a thick branch.
54:10
I say from my gardening it's just 40 inches knock to knock
54:17
and 40 lbs at 11 inches of your lane.
54:23
That's why when I saw a stave A3A branch a sapling, I don't
54:33
see that things I think I saw I see a bowl.
54:36
So I saw that for the inches longer sapling and I decided to
54:43
make a bowl. I once tried to make a bowl with
54:47
island Tus the 30 heaven. It's a it's a white wood with
54:55
awful properties. Mother didn't know it exploded
54:58
after the the first bending at 20 inches is very common.
55:04
It grows everywhere it I didn't want to try but it.
55:09
Exploded. There it is, Atlantis.
55:12
Real favorites. I see that it has no big
55:16
mechanical properties or elastic properties.
55:19
OK, Yeah, it's native to China. Yeah, and it's a rapid growing
55:26
tree. Yeah, I, I think rapid growing
55:29
trees are hard sometimes to make bows out of because the wood is,
55:33
it grows so quickly and the, the the growth rings are so large,
55:39
unlike some of the hardwoods like a U wood.
55:42
It's ancient. And the growth rings are?
55:44
It was a try. Yeah, yeah, of course.
55:51
Where can people learn more about you, Enrico?
55:54
Can you give us your website and your social media?
55:56
Well, I have an Instagram account, Enrico dot Maraji or
56:01
Archaica Bulls. There is a side web, it's in
56:12
construction. I'm working on it.
56:14
It's not finished. And Facebook.
56:18
OK, what internal and Facebook? OK, I'll put all those in the
56:21
show notes. Thank you.
56:24
This has been wonderful. What you shared in English is
56:29
there are so many powerful things, a lot of really good
56:31
information, a lot of beautiful quotes, many of which will go in
56:34
the book, I'm sure. So thank you for for taking the
56:38
time to do this and for being willing to do this.
56:42
I know it's not something as you said that you would normally do.
56:44
You like to keep a low profile, so.
56:48
But we are here to groan, to to, to for our evolution.
56:53
We we feel my daughter and I feel honored to be able to come
56:56
to your home and and carve a bow with you and way more of your
56:59
story and and take photos. Yeah.
57:02
Thank you so much. Yeah.
57:13
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