It’s difficult to avoid Eucalyptus trees when traveling along
the California coast. I’ve read that there are over 550 species
of this genus in Australia alone! The taxonomists in charge of
characterizing Aussie vegetation are splitters, for sure.
In this Giant Egg Cockle shell are some
seeds from this tree. Let’s put them to some use...
Some seeds sport four holes, some five.
Using some abrasive sand that I adhered
to a flat rock with deer hide glue, I abraded the top
and the bottom of the seed until it was relatively thin
and the holes shown clear through.
I then cut a buttonhole through some
commercial leather with an extremely-sharp novaculite
shard that I accidentally made while destroying good
rock via flintknapping.
A hollow bird bone served quite nicely
as a punch to get a hole through the leather for an
easier upcoming sewing experience.
Seeing that I had some Yucca Leaf
fibers handy, I used one to sew the Eucalyptus seed
button onto the leather. Surely some sinew fibers would
be more durable. Note the Elephant Seal Whisker eyelet I
employed to draw the sewing fiber’s end through the tiny
hole. Sweet! Me smart...
Another
successful nature experiment completed!
Next.... the primitive zipper!
(don’t hold your breath...
)
)