Quality Tipis

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Making a Tipi

Creating a quality tipi the original way is a long process. The hide must be scraped from the carcass of a buffalo, brain tanned, and stretched to ensure durability. I use an elkhorn scraper to flesh a buffalo hide of meat and fat. Also, I use a bar flesher supported by a strap around my wrist, which is used along the edges of a fresh buffalo hide.

It is important to note that the Indians did not waste any part of the buffalo, and neither do I.

A stretched tipi hide

A stretched tipi hide

Scraping the fat and meat from the hide

Scraping the fat and meat from the hide

Completed Tipis

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Tipi entrance embellished with porcupine quillwork

Tipi entrance embellished with porcupine quillwork

Tipi back - poles open flaps to allow smoke through

Tipi back - poles open flaps to allow smoke through

Tipi side - buffalo hides sewn together with sinew

Tipi side - buffalo hides sewn together with sinew

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War Bonnet

This is the front and back of a Sioux war bonnet with porcupine-quillwork. The feathers are hand-painted imitations.

 
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A war bonnet, as the one pictured above, we made for President Obama, commissioned by a Lakota tribe. The bonnet is destined for Obama’s Presidential Library.

Quilled Baby Cradle

Pictured is a classic cradle with sewn-down porcupine quills and quill-wrapped tab. The red hackle fluffs dividing the rows and bells on the tab add to the charm of this piece.

This is a porcupine-quilled buckskin cradle with boards.

This is a porcupine-quilled buckskin cradle with boards.

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