Reflection

Waldrop, L. (2012) Photo from home.

       I was shocked in a way that we were to be doing a blog for our class and got to choose the subject that we wanted. I am very glad that I chose the subject that I did because I already knew a lot about Native American crafts because I work on them frequently. I didn’t know much about doing a blog before this class. I liked being able to decorate the blog and choosing pictures that I had taken around my house and of crafts that I’ve made in the past.

        This topic meant a lot to me because I do these crafts at home in my spare time and when I was learning to make these I didn’t have anyone explain to me or show me how to do them. I had to look at premade items and figure it out myself. I could have done a lot better, I feel, when I was starting if I had someone there to show me what to do. I liked drawing the pictures explaining some of what I said; picture images like that really would have helped me starting out.

        I like how the project turned out but I’m honestly glad that it’s over. I like to do crafts a lot more than I do writing about them but I’m glad that we had this project because I learned a lot more about the history that I didn’t know already. I enjoyed this project and I’m glad I got to learn more about what can be done on a computer when they actually are working.

Native American Pottery: The History and the Craft

Waldrop, L. (2012) Photo from home.

         The Native Americans made pottery for cooking and storage and had many different designs on the pots symbolizing many stories and showing many different patterns. A lot of times, nimals carved and/or painted on the pots were to help with the hunt (Greenman, 2007). Native Americans thought that the animals on the pots would secure a good kill so that they would be fed for another day. Other images in addition animals, were also carved/or painted on their pots, almost always represented some part of what was predominant in their lives. The drawing below is some of the symbols that the pots/bowls might have carved into them.


Brown earthenware clay was molded into a bowl shape by hand and was carved with tools like a rock or bone to make the designs on them. Beeswax and animal fats were used as glazes to water proof the pots and bowls so that they could hold water and other liquids (Greenman, 2007). Then the bowls were placed on rocks in a fire and would harden over time as if it were in a kiln (Susan, 1997)

        To make a bowl you need clay and somewhere you can let it harden, such as a kiln, a fire pit and somewhere safe where it can become bone dry. Kneed the clay, basically push and roll the clay, so you let out all the air bubbles so that your pot or bowl will be less likely to bust, crack or break. To make pinch pots, which were what most Native Americans would have made, you form a ball with the clay then push both thumbs into the ball in the same spot to make it into a bowl shape. Then pinch the bowl into what shape you like and flatten out the bottom. It’s best to have the bowl have a thickness of about a fourth of an inch and it to be even all around. Carve out or stamp patterns or designs on it as you like and put it in a safe place until it’s hard and cold to the touch. It’s best to put it on wood like a board and loosely wrap it in cloth or plastic so it will dry out better and more evenly. After it is bone dry you can put it in the firing spot and give it some time. You can also paint the bowl after it’s done.

Waldrop, L. (2012) Drawing.

       

Greenman, G. (2007, February).  Arts & Activities; Vol. 141 Issue 1, p18-42, 4p. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from the Academic Search Complete database.

Susan, P. (1997) A History of American Indian Pottery. Pottery By American Indian Woman. Retrieved from http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/peterson/petersonessay2.html

Moccasins: The History and the Craft

Waldrop, L. (2012) Photo from home.

            Native Americans made shoes called Moccasins made of leather and sometimes decorated with beads, braids and fringe. Not all tribes wore shoes but many of them did. Leather is tough and made for good protection and was the best material that the Native Americans had to create a durable pair of foot wear. Buffalo, deer, moose and cowhide were the most popular of the hides used in the making of Moccasins and Buffalo was the most widely used of them all. The style of the shoes often marked which tribe you were part of and often the symbols sewn, usually beads, also gave you some idea of where you were from. They have lasted for hundreds of years being persevered and many originals are in museums today (Wommack, 2009).

        Today people still wear Moccasins. They have become America’s longest running shoe fashion. In the style of the Moccasins not all that much has changed but the soles of the shoes have. The originals almost always had soft soles but the hard soles were used then too. Today hard soles are the most used because of hard floors, gravel and other rough things that we step on today. Many Native Americans wore the soft soles because it was better on the plant life if you were to step a plant unlike the hard soles that were harsher on plants if stepped on.

        Moccasins aren’t too hard to make, just takes time and leather. For me I start with the soles, trace a bottom of a pair of shoes that you own on a piece of paper or cardboard, then cut it out and trace it onto your leather that will become the sole of your shoes. Trace it one way then flip over the paper or cardboard to the other side and trace it again so that the insides of both shoes will be the same and so will the outsides. Then measure around the back of the soles from the middle of both sides and cut out rectangle like pieces with the base measuring the same as the back of the soles from side to side and height at least inch taller than you want the shoe to be tall. Then you cut out the toe and tongue of the shoe. Measure over half way around the sole in the front so that the back and the front will be over lapping, cut it into an oval shape for both shoes, You can taper the tongue some if you’d like but you don’t have to. Next comes decoration, I find it easier to decorate if the shoes are in pieces, sewn symbols in beads or other decorative things to the shoes. Now you get to sow the shoe pieces together, cut holes around the edge of the sole and bases of the back and toe pieces making sure you have the same amount of holes, cutting holes as you go helps to not get to the end and have holes that were not used. Take a string, hemp string is my favorite string to use, and weave it through the holes of the sole to the back, over lapping the toe with the back, and go around the back of the shoes working towards the front till you get back to where you started. Tie a knot in the string on the inside of the shoes hiding the knot under the leather of the back and front that are pieced inside.

To put shoe stings on the shoes fold the top of the backing down about an inch and sew it down, It doesn’t matter if you sew it going in the shoe out outside but I like it better outside because it makes it more comfortable and that’s where you can fringe if you want. Run the laces inside the loop formed by the overlap of the top and you’re done. If you want fringe on the shoe cut the backing with the length of the desired fringe plus one inch and do all the same steps in making the shoes but when you get to the end fold over the desired fringe length and one inch and then sow it to the other side of the shoe, then cut the extra leather up to where you sowed it and make strips forming a fringe around the back of the shoes and then lace them up.

Thomas, R. (2013). History Of The American Moccasin. Indianvillagemall. Retrieved from http://www.indianvillagemall.com/aboutminnetonka

Wommack, L. (2009). The Autry Center showcases its Grand collection of Indian artifacts. Wild West, 22(1), 66.  Retrieved December 12, 2012, from the MasterFILE Premier database.

 

Visual Rhetoric II

This picture is of a Navajo weaver weaving what looks to be like a blanket. It shows Pathos by showing an emotional factor of the weaver being alone doing their job. It’s almost like they are one with the fabric. It also has logos in it because it’s fact that the tribes did have certain people doing specific jobs in the tribe and this person seems to be one of the weavers. Ethos also is playing in this by showing that they are doing their job and the blanket itself will be showing the value of time and energy of the weaver in it. It’s a wonderful picture and shows a nice range of meaning.

 (November 2012) "Native American History for Kids: Navajo Nation and Tribe." Ducksters. http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_american_navajo.php

Visual Rhetoric I

The painting shows three girls sitting together with the girl in the middle beading, braiding or wrapping the girl on the left’s hair. The Picture is using pathos, from an emotion towards the piece giving of a sense of a calm environment.  The girls seem to be relaxed and to be taking a break from the world making their own little world. It also, to me, shows Ethos showing value and kindness between the girls. No one girl stands out more than the others. Overall, this painting shows a lot in pathos but also has Ethos in it too.

Abbrescia, Joe. (February 25, 2007) Native American Woman Giclee Art Print on Canvas by Joe Abbrescia. http://www.abbresciafineart.com/lostinthought.htm

Beadwork; The History and the Craft

Waldrop, L. (2012) Photo from home .

       Beadwork has been around for thousands of years and was used for decoration on Native American clothes and tools. The beads were often crafted from wood or bone and holes were formed in them using a drill like tool, Turquoise and other stones also were used in the making of jewelry (2012, Bead). Headdresses, decorative clothes and sometimes tools had a range of beads sewn onto them sometimes just for pure decoration and other times to tell a story. Symbols sewn with the beads sometimes had meaning and could tell you who someone was or what was going on in the tribe at the time of the make (2012, Bead).

        The craft is not simple nor is it hard, performed in most tribes by woman, the craft is mostly teediest and time consuming. I buy glass seed beads that from Wal-Mart and Michael’s and it can take days to even make a simple bracelet. The woman of the villages had to make the beads along with crafting the beads themselves so I can only imagine how long it took them to make the beautiful works that they did.

        I do loom beading which is using a loom to make bracelets, belts, headdresses and decoration for hats, such as the one I did for the hat in the picture. There are other ways of beading like making necklaces and earrings but I don’t do those often and they’re pretty simple so I’ll explain how to do loom work.

        Basically I have made my own loom. What I did was take three boards and nailed them together as if I were making a box and left out a side and have it so that two sides are up and the third side is the base. Then I took nails and nailed them part of the way down along the top part of both standing boards. String is then ran along the top and around the nails creating a somewhat “top” for the box. After that you tie the string in place and then you’re ready to start beading. Tie the string that you’ll be putting the beads on, on the a far side of the string that’s on the loom and place it towards one of the boards so that you’ll have more room to work (I’m right handed so it’s easier to me to have the beginning start on the left side and work to the right). Once the string is tied put one bead less than you have strings running on the loom and pull the stringed beads over the strings of the loom making sure there’s a string between every bead then string the beads again by taking the string on the beads and running it through the beads again running it this time under them and making sure that the loom string is in between the beaded string. Keep going making more rows and adding different colors to make patterns and tie it off when you get to the end and there you have it, the work is complete.

Waldrop, L. (2012) Drawing

(2012) Beads. Indians.org. Retrieved on November 15, 2012 from Indian.org

Fauntleroy, G. (2007). Beadwork. Native Peoples Magazine, 20(1), 34. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from the MasterFile Premier database.

Dream Catchers; Their History and the Craft

Waldrop, L. (2012). Photo from home.

        Dream catchers were items that many Native Americans had for their children, their sole purpose were to prevent bad dreams from entering the dreamer. In the center of the dream catcher there is a hole where the good dreams enter and are caught by the dreamer and the web catches all or most of the bad dreams.  Different items on the dream catcher were to symbolize different things such as one bead on the web could symbolize a spider on the web catching the bad dreams, many beads were the good dreams that were sent in the night, and a feather was for the air and breathing in sleep (2004, History).

The Ojibwe, or Chippewa Tribe, were the first to create the dream catcher (2004, History). They spanned from Canada down through the states. They created the dream catcher to help their babies sleep through the night peacefully. The belief was that the bad dreams will die in the light of the morning sun and the next night the dream catcher would catch bad dreams again (2004, History). Originally the dream catcher was used with a purpose but later also became more for decoration.

The dream catcher consists of a ring made of sticks or vines that could be covered in leather strips, a string to tie the webbing in the middle and beads, feathers and decoration. You basically take the sticks or vines and form a circle and tie them together, I use a leather strip to tie them, after that you can wrap the leather strip around the circle and tie it off at the end, then you take the string and tie it to the circle anywhere and loop it around and bring the string through the loop and pull then repeat that step over and over and loop the string through the strings in the next layer until you get to the middle and tie it off. As you are looping the “web” you can add beads and charms and once you are done you can add strings or leather strips at the bottom and tie feathers to it.

Waldrop, L. (2012). Drawing

(2004) History of the Dream Catcher. The Wolfs Den Creations. Retrieved November10, 2012, from

www.thewolfsdencreations.com/

Oberholtzer, C. (1995). The re-invention of tradition and the marketing of cultural values Anthropologica , Vol. 37, No. 2 (1995), pp. 141-153 Retrieved  December 12, 2012, from the JSTOR database.

Introduction:

I have been doing crafts inspired by Native American art for years. Beadwork is one of my favorites but I also do a lot of dream catchers, leather shoes and jewelry.  The crafts are not too hard to do but had a lot mean of meaning in the culture of the American Indians.

I have Native American heritage in my bloodline and this has made me turn to the crafts of their past. My grandmother wore a lot of turquoise jewelry and I never saw her wear any other shoes but moccasins. All my life I have been surrounded by the art and history of the Native Americans and I very much love their culture, crafts and art.

The histories of the crafts are interesting, like most art crafts, and are still practiced today by many people. In this blog I will be sharing the history and meaning of the projects along with some details of how to do the crafts yourself at home.

Waldrop, L. (2012). Photo from Auction