Ever since I acquired an antique Chinese tengpai (籐牌) or "rattan shield" I had been wanting to figure out how to make these. I ordered rattan of appropriate type and dimensions at a local rattan supplier and got working…
(This is an old article so the images are fairly low resolution)
Over the past few years, local collectors and antiques dealers have brought in a number of different variations of the Prussian Dreyse needle-fire rifle…
According to Chinese symbolism, the strength and martial spirit of a soldier is embodied in the single-edged blade (dāo, literally meaning “knife”) whereas the double-edged sword (jiàn) represents the noble character of…