These are other functional jewelry, martial arts, and self-defense companies, products, and organizations we like.   Aravenest is a small workshop, we cannot supply the world.  We hope that people will find more ways to "kill two birds with one stone" (pun intended) by making sure that the objects they keep with them every day can serve multiple uses.  Likewise, as people who study martial arts and technology, we encourage everyone to take control of themselves and be responsible for their personal safety.  Training, awareness, and rational analysis can keep you safer than any weapon in the world. We know and endorse these training options and resources.

Survival Straps:  These folks seem to have the very best products out there and they can produce excellent items fast.  We wear and love our Survival Straps.  http://www.survivalstraps.com/  Survival Straps make excellent gifts for anyone whose safety is important to you.
If you need something very specific and Survival Straps doesn't meet the need, please see our "Functional Lines" section and contact us for a custom-designed piece.

Cold Steel:   The variety and outstanding quality of the Cold Steel lines make them our choice when we're looking for blades in a specific form-factor. http://www.coldsteel.com/

To-Shin Do:  A martial system encompassing the philosophy and skills of Ninjutsu with flexibility and a dynamic focus on handling current-day problems.  http://skhquest.com  

Dragon Attire:  Beautiful and functional clothing, beaded meditation jewelry (another fine function!) and excellent resources from a brilliant martial artist. http://torieldridge.com/id70.html   You can't find a better source for meditation jewelry to be worn anywhere, but if you would like to add some tensile strength to that jewelry, call on us ;-).  (Our Weapons Grade lines include occasional mala, rosary beads (not blessed) and prayer beads from other traditions.)  Tori Eldridge, however, creates unique and lovely pieces with a deep understanding of particular stone choices and
beautiful sense of design.

Edhellen Armoury:  The bar-none, hands-down best foam training weapons available anywhere.  Awesome.  http://edhellen.com  (We do wish their Japanese Katana foam sword would pop back into their catalog someday...)

Keen Edge Knives:  Beautiful training knives.  Styles to match almost any carry-blade you might have.  Friendly and helpful service. http://www.keenedgeknives.com/ 

Lima Beads:  One of our favorite sources for jewelry supplies.  In fact, if you contact us for a commission, it would be helpful if you browsed a bit on http://www.limabeads.com/ to get an idea of the stones, colors, or shapes you might be looking for in a finished piece.  If you enjoy beading yourself, Lima Beads is great.

Photography:  The Raven and some other images on this site are courtesy of Neil Stahl http://upwaterfaller.smugmug.com/.  Neil specializes in nature photography.  His portfolio includes views of our National Parks, the Southwestern United States, and his favorite focus: waterfalls.  Neil's photography captures the waterfall in a way that only being there could replicate.

Earth Connection:  These folks are brilliant at teaching basic (and not-at-all-basic) outdoor survival skills.  This is useful for anyone who sets foot outside their front door.   If earthquakes, hurricanes, car-accidents, and every single outdoor sport teaches us anything it is that you could be called-upon to take care of yourself and the people around you under primitive emergency conditions at any time.  This organization, with sites in North Carolina and Virginia, can teach you how!  http://earth-connection.com/