Beading

Every Thursday the women of LK are invited to come to the 'Matrix House' to sew. I have mentioned before that a woman named Hanna, originally from Germany, is the teacher but she invites the elders of the community to come and share their expertise. Sometimes there are just 4 or 5 of us but last evening there were seventeen people present. Many of them were older, experienced beaders and sewers. When I say sewers, I mean hand sewing with animal hide. The band supplies the beads, the thread, the snacks (last night it was chocolate covered digestive cookies, yum yum), the beading looms and a MOOSE HIDE!!! My pictures for this post are from last night.



This is Madeline, she does amazing work. She is really old and speaks very little English. I think she is about 90. All her kids, including one of the teachers I work with, were sent away to residential school. She is working on the gauntlet for some mitts. She sell her mitts for 400 dollars.


She was the oldest woman there. She doesn't always attend but I always look forward to her being there. She is an inspiration.


This is Faith. She came with her mum last night because she didn't have school the next day and none of her five brothers would babysit! She made herself a long necklace before the evening was over.


These are the moose hides. The light coloured one is about a half a centimetre thick. The other one is the one we will use to for our moccasins. Caribou hide is used for the baby moccasins because it is very soft and flexible.








These are the uppers for the moccasins. These ones are made by some of the elders. Their work is incredible. They often sell these for $60. I have an order in for a pair of uppers like the blue flowered ones.









These ones are are mine. I went with a quilt motif. I would like you think it was because I am a quilter, but really it was because I thought it would be safer to stick with straight lines.


This is a first attempt for one of the young women. Her work was wonderful, especially seeing as it was her first project.


This is Faith and her mum.



This is Mickey's butterfly.


I'll keep you posted on my progress. I hope to start sewing on the actual moccasins next week. I have to finish my uppers first.