quill work

[Ridge]

It's my understanding that it was widely used in the great lakes area.

I have no documentation though.

 

[onefeather]

it was widely used almost everywhere.there are plenty of original quilled sheaths from that region.i will give you some links if you dont believe me :grin:

 

[musketman]

It's my understanding that it was widely used in the great lakes area.

I have no documentation though.

Where ever the quills could be had, there was quill work being done, I say had because some traded for quills as well as other goods...

Here are a few examples:
[url] http://www.nativetech.org/quill/quill.html[/url]
[url] http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/lewisandclark/framing/recreating.html[/url]

 

[onefeather]

yes cause the cherokee had to trade for them and there are knife sheaths quilled from them.but all the great lakes tribes were very good at it. :thumbsup:

 

[Birdman]

Up north one of the items used to decorate was dyed moose hair. I think that sometimes the hair would be more accurate then quills for decoration.It all would depend on the location/region your trying to portray. On other boards it has been brought out that europeans compared to NAs probably didn't carry much that would have been quilled. Much of what we do today is done without considering the mentality of the people of the period.The French were more inclined to "go native" and wear items of clothing etc of native manufacture or cut, while the British didn't want anything to do with "being Native". Just some thoughts to consider YMHS Birdman

 

[shunka]

Howdy Folks -
in general there were (are) four main methods of clothing and acoutrement decoration as done by Native Americans - painting, carving/scrimshaw, embroidery, and applique.

Painting is the earliest form of decoration, but is still done even today. Various plant saps and boiled plant parts make vegetable dyes. Earth Paint colors were made from grinding various soft rocks and mixing with a liquid binder, often oil, fat, and sometimes egg, milk, or sap. The various paints came out varying from a sort of "tempra" to a paint exactly like the "old masters" oil paint.
This paint was then used on everything - leather, cloth (when obtainable), wood, horses, & people

Sometimes leather was embossed prior to painting, we are not sure if this was intentional or an unexpected byproduct. If you wish to try to replicate the embossing, try a woodburning tool on very low heat, or gently heat a rounded steel implement.

Scrimshaw/carving was practiced in many areas, often as simple as scratching a design into the object (wood, stone) and "sometimes" filling with color. Further incising of the design led to more complex carving.

Embroidery was/is almost a universal style of decoration. Sinew is difficult to dye, but animal hair (ie moose hair) seems to take dye well and thus appeared widely in the great lakes and eastern regions. After Horses appeared on this continent, some horsehair embrodery appeared, but I haven't seen it very often - not nearly as often as Moosehair. After European contact, fine woven wool & cotton cloth became available as trade items, and were often unraveled just to obtain the threads for embroidery!

Quilwork and Beedwork are examples of Applique decoration. There are a number of methods and stitching to beedwork, but Quillwork is an amazing art all by itself! After collection, the quills are dyed and the points cut off, and the quill is flattened. During the work, the quills are soaked, often by holding them in the mouth. The actual work is an elaborate combination of stitching and folding of the flattened quill. The result is incredible, and I think it might be unique to North America.

Wonderful examples of quillwork and moosehair are being made by a numbe of folk, include Frank House' wife, Lally Bartman House who did quite a bit of work for the movies "Last of the Mohicans" and "The Patriot".

Lally's work can be seen Here

other contemporary examples can be found at Praries Edge:
Link

AS MusketMan pointed out

Where ever the quills could be had, there was quill work being done, I say had because some traded for quills as well as other goods...

There was far more Trade across this continent occurring before European contact than is commonly known. There are Documentated occurrances of NW dentalia shells showing all over the plains and south, as well as Red Pipestone (Catlinite) which in that particular form occurrs only at Pipestone, MN.

hope this helps
shunka

 

[shunka]

Oops - I stand corrected - my wife the Highly Talented Amature geologist/rockhound indicates that a vein of very similar pipestone has been found
in Utah. Not mined as much, nor as famous as Pipestone MN, which was/is a Sacred Place where widely held standing Peace agreement was observed by all tribes who gathered there.
best
shunka

 

[onefeather]

thanks that was a nice bit of info you had there.i was really amazed by the wool and cotton embroidery.are there any known originals left?thanks

 

[Okwaho]

We know that there was "some" quillwork among the Cherokee as described by Timberlake who mentioned a pipe stem{P.65} and moccasins{P.76} but I have never seen an 18th or early 19th century Cherokee quilled knife sheath or bag published.I would be most interested in the Cherokee quilled sheaths you mentioned.
Tom Patton

 

[onefeather]

the one i was thinking was modern but i will ask the maker if it was taken from a original design from the cherokees for you :thumbsup:

 

[onefeather]

trade like, flint people walked hundreds of miles to trade for better grade flint.also.do you have any documentation on embroidery from string from blankets or cloth?thanks bye :thumbsup: :hmm:

 

[shunka]

Howdy One Feather -
I have several sources regarding Dineh (Navajo) unravelling threads for use in ther weavings, but I have misplaced my source regardign embrodery... pls stand bye...
shunka