Southeastern Style Blowgun

At MAPS Meet 2005 I took a class taught by Mac Maness on making rivercane blowguns. This weapon was used by many Southeastern tribes (Catwaba, Chocktaw, Cherokee, etc) to hunt small game. Blowguns have always been an interest of mine, its simplicity and the fact that you can shoot something lethal with your breath is has always appealed to me. They're also not entirly difficult to make and under Mac's expert instruction I had a function blowgun and dart in only a few hours. Unlike most ranged weapons of any great effect or accuracy which require special tools or time to prepare the material, the river cane blowgun can be field crafted on the spot if need be.
I still have my blowgun and pick it up from time to time, and its fast becoming a favorite weapon to practice with. I have been using the same dart I made in 2005 and the thistle down is starting to wear off, so I decided it was time to make a new one. I still had a thistle blossom I picked up from Mac's class, so I went about fletching a new dark. It's not very paleo, but I use skewers for the dart shafts. The real fun of making the darts is not the wooden shafts however, applying the thistle fletching is where it gets tricky. I would have liked to get some pictures of the process, but sadly I possess only two hands, and I was using both to hold the whole assembly together. However I do plan on photographing the entire process when I get the chance to collect more thistle blossoms.
The blowgun itself is about 4'7 while the darts are approx. 6 inchs. On average blowguns fromt he southwest range from 6-8 feet in length.
The Cherokee Heritage Center website has a good section on how blowguns and darts were made and their significance in Cherokee culture. I found this passage that describes the process fairly well as well as providing the common name for the thistle used:

"It's made with Scottish thistle, which, like the river cane, grows locally. You pick it in the late summer, August being the best month. You want to pick the thistle after it has bloomed, opened up, and then reclosed. After picking as many flowers as you can, they need to be stacked and the pressed between two pieces of wood to keep the thistle flower from breaking open and dispersing the fluff.

Once the thistle is dried, you pick off the purple flower casing and keep the white down of the thistle. You pinch the entire bundle of fluff between your fingers, brush off the seeds, and tie a piece of sinew or string to the end of the shaft, hold the string in your mouth, and then roll the shaft into the down so that it naturally builds around the shaft into a large, round stabilizer for the dart. Then you tie the sinew to keep the thistle mounted on the shaft." (1)

There is also an article written by Douglas S. Meyer in Spring 2005 issue No. 29 of the Bulletin of Primitive Technology on fletching Choctaw darts with cotton, as well as pictures detailing how to do so. ("Choctaw Blowgun Darts", pp.69-73)

Practicing with the blowgun about two summers ago, showing dart exiting the blowgun