After wetting with hot water the bark is unrolled on the building platform. Tom and Marc are putting on a temporary inner frame/form. This form defines the shape of the canoe.
To hold the frame in place you use big stones, it is said that ancestors live in these stones and this way they help you building the canoe...
And then one morning we looked out of our window and all was white. Middle of may, clear blue sky, 10 cm of snow, it was beautiful. But because of the snow we had to work indoors.
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Again we came to a point where choices had to be made because of the model we chose. Depth, width and shape are fixed with the inwales, the bark will be shaped around it.
At the ends the inwales are laminated, bend and tied in shape with a rope
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To bend the bark upwards around the inwales and hold it in place you put stakes in the holes of the building platform. Open spaces are filled with extra pieces of bark. Wim is doing his favourite job, lashing and sewing. Here he is sewing the bark together with roots.
Detail picture of the way the canoe is kept in shape. The pieces of bark are pinned together with dowels before sewing.
Now its time to make the outwales. Again a very long piece of cedar is split in two, its a delicate job and Tom takes care of it himself.
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It starts to look like a real canoe, the outwales and inwales are lashed together with roots, its a time consuming job but again its Wims favourite! Then the definite thwarts are made and lashed to the gunwales.
Next come the Bow and Stern. To start you need to make the stems, wooden pieces that fit into the very back and front of the canoe. You split the wood in 8 pieces but not completely, at one end the wood remains whole, in fact it is laminated. This way it is easier to bend.
With hot water the stem is bent in the mold and put away to dry. Marc is watching Tom bending the stem.
After the stem has dried a rope is wound around it to make sure it stays in the shape you want.
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When the stem is put in place you can cut the bark in shape just past the stem, then the ends are lashed together with a crisscross stitch.
We're exited, we really like the shape of the bow and it starts to look like a beautiful canoe.
