“I just remember one morning, I was standing at the edge of my pond, doing my [Tai Chi] routine, and every time I went into this one posture where I was shooting the bow, I felt even more grounded than what I did in the rest of the practice. I remember just going and telling my wife, I need to get a bow and arrow.”

Todd Howard's path to traditional archery began not in a workshop, but in his daily tai chi and qigong practice. As a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner for nearly 30 years, Todd has built a morning routine around Tai Chi, often called the original martial art, which includes postures based on fighting sequences, one of which is the motion of drawing a bow. One morning, standing at the edge of his pond mid-routine, that posture resonated in a powerful way. He felt more grounded than any other part of his practice, and in that moment, he knew he needed a bow of his own.

That instinct led him to the world of primitive selfbows: those that are made by hand from a single piece of wood with basic tools and generational knowledge. After a brief interaction with a modern compound bow, he realized he was seeking a more ancient technology. He then discovered an English longbow made from Pacific Yew, built by bowyer Jamie McDonald of Ravenbeak Bows, and said there was no doubt that he’d found the right one and purchased it.

This personal curiosity turned into something bigger when Todd started organizing men's retreats built around bow carving. He paired carving bows by day with deeper emotional work by night, creating a meditative practice that produced a new bow with each retreat. He carved his first three bows with Jamie's guidance, each one deepening his connection to the craft and to the quiet, grounded feeling that had started it all at the edge of his pond. What began as a personal search for that feeling would soon become the seed of Quiver: The Art of Life through Bowcraft, the book that set Todd and his daughter Ela on the adventure of a lifetime.

Why This Project

The idea for Quiver took shape during a period of major transition. After nearly 20 years running a college of holistic medicine, Todd and his family moved to Costa Rica and stepped away from the business that had been central to their lives for so long. Through such a major life change, Todd found himself seeking a source of healing and began to reflect on his transformative relationship with bow carving. In doing so, the idea came to him to travel and learn from bowyers around the world, carving a bow with each of them.

Around the same time, his 13-year-old daughter Ela decided to leave traditional schooling in Costa Rica to pursue her passions, one of which was photography. She and Todd both shared a love of books, which led Todd to propose an idea: what if they made a book together? Quiver began to take shape. Combining Todd's writing and Ela's photography, Quiver became the culmination of this father-daughter journey as they carved their way across the world.

Finding the Bowyers 

After agreeing to the idea, Todd and Ela set out to find their bowyers. They already had two in mind: Jamie McDonald, who'd taught Todd to carve, and Pete Woodland, a bowyer trained by Jamie who lived just half a mile from their farm. From there, they built a network on Instagram, finding bowyers at the epicenter of this primitive bow carving movement, and inviting them to be a part of Quiver. Some said yes right away, some said maybe, a few said no, and some never responded at all. As two newcomers, a first-time author and his at the time 13-year-old photographer daughter, Todd says they were most surprised by how many people said yes. But once people had signed on, there was no turning back.

The Journey

The trip naturally branched into three phases: a U.S. leg, a Canadian leg, and a European leg. They ended up travelling across 10 countries, 4 continents, and working with 14 bowyers. With each bowyer, the rhythm was largely the same: about three to four days on the ground, learning their techniques, Todd carving a bow by the end of the visit, with Ela documenting the entire process.

Ela, who began learning photography from a family friend and mentor just months earlier, had developed a pattern for each stop. The first day she’d spend photographing the bows themselves, the second day capturing each bowyer’s workshops, tools, and details specific to each craft, and the third day, once everyone was more comfortable, she photographed their portraits.

Todd admits he wasn't sure what to expect, as some of the bowyers weren't used to having a camera on them, let alone posing for a portrait, and of course, Ela had only been shooting for a few months. But any uncertainty he had didn't last long.

“I was in earshot for one of the first sets of photos, and she was having [the bowyer] stand in different ways, or in different places, and then at one moment, she said, now, how do you feel about smiling? And he just relaxed and broke into a big grin, and I was like, ah, there's my girl, she's got this”.

Every bowyer worked differently. Some kept a meticulous workshop while others were much more raw. Some carve quickly, moving through bows as a full-time trade, while others spend months on a single piece. All fourteen, however, had a unique style and niche that Todd considers their signature trademark.

Throughout the trip, they were honored to be welcomed into each bowyer's home for family meals and introduced to their relatives, a level of hospitality Ela considered incredible for a group of fourteen people who started out as strangers. That hospitality, and the trust of fourteen strangers-turned-collaborators, is as much a part of Quiver's story as the bows themselves.

Ela shared that she and her dad have always worked well together, and much of the planning was a shared effort: figuring out transportation, booking hotels the same day they'd arrive in a new town, adjusting when something didn't go as planned. When hiccups came up, Ela says, they just became part of the adventure. 

Quiver: The Art of Life through Bowcraft

What started with a bow drawn at the edge of a pond became a year-long journey across four continents, and the record of that journey is now shared in Quiver: The Art of Life through Bowcraft. Pairing firsthand accounts with striking visuals from Todd and Ela's journey, Quiver documents the lives and craft of the world's most renowned traditional bow carvers.

Woven together with a foreword by Paul Comstock, co-author of The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Quiver tells stories of cultural history, artisan craft, and human ingenuity, all tied together by the universal thread of survival and connection. There's much more to this story, including what it was like for a father to hand his daughter the freedom to explore new cities on her own. Stay tuned for our full Q&A with Todd and Ela.

Quiver is available for pre-order now at trope.com, and will be available in stores late October.