• Primitive cordage was made from strands of plant fiber.cordage orange image by Antoinexpo from Fotolia.com
  
  Primitive craft ideas get their inspiration from the activities our primitive ancestors did with resources from the natural environment to make living more easy and convenient. Primitive peoples made cords out of plant matter, built and ignited fires without lighters or matches, made their own clothes, crafted handmade bows and arrows and converted logs or birch bark into canoes. Practice primitive living skills by doing crafts invented by some of the world's oldest human inhabitants.
  
  

Cordage and Rope

• Make rope and string the way our ancestors did.cordages image by Nath Photos from Fotolia.com
  
  Organize a trip to the woods to gather materials to make primitive string, cord and rope. Primitive people made cordage from plant fibers such as hemp, yucca, nettles and willow bark. The methods of extracting the fibers are different for each plant. To gather the fibers from milkweed stems, flatten out the stems with your hands or a rock. Split the stems open with your fingernail or a small knife, and open them up fully. Bend the stems to crack the material on the inside and separate the woody insides from the outer fibers. The outer fibers are now ready to be wrapped into cordage using the twining or braiding method. Twining produces strong cords, but as described on NatureSkills.com, the process is lengthy and rather complicated. You can easily make a natural-fiber cord by simply braiding the fibers together. Practice until you get nice-looking cordage that doesn't pull apart. Use the primitive cordage for other primitive crafts such as making dolls or holding together small models of primitive shelters.
  
  

Bow Drill Fire Making

• Primitive humans made fires using bow drills created from sinew, branches and pieces of wood from local trees. Create a piece of cordage or buy strong string to use on the bow. For a bow, use any piece of curved wooden branch about an inch in diameter. Score the branch on either end and attach the string to the scored ends. Put a bend in the branch before tying the string to both ends to create tension in the finished bow. The bow is used with a drill and fire board. Use a palm-sized flat piece of wood with a notch carved into it to press down on a straight cylindrical piece of wood about a half-inch in diameter as a spindle for the bow drill setup. This piece sits and spins vertically in a notch on a piece of wood called a fireboard, which sits on the ground. A soft wood that burns well, such as cedar, is best for the fireboard, according to NatureSkills.com. The bowstring is wrapped once around the drill and then moved back and forth to make it spin to create friction on the fireboard, which eventually turns into burning embers.
  
  

Primitive Dolls

• Make primitive-looking dolls out of natural and rustic materials. Include homemade cordage, muslin, cheesecloth, pieces of moss and other items collected from the natural areas around your home. Gather items to use for stuffing such as wool, cotton, bamboo fibers, sawdust and rags. You will need sewing supplies like needles and scissors to put your dolls together. Use coffee, tea and walnut husks to stain fabrics to look more aged, earthy and natural. Include dried grass, buttons, beads and wire for adding details to your dolls. Make patterns on paper of how you want the dolls to look before tracing the patterns onto fabric and cutting them out. Stitch the pieces of fabric together with thread or cordage and fill them with stuffing. Add detail with the items you have gathered.