What is Native American quillwork?
Quillwork is an art form unique to Native Americans. It was practiced for hundreds of years before the arrival of Euro-Americans on the Great Plains. During the 18th and 19th centuries quilling arts reached one of their highest levels of development. Quillwork was used to decorate shirts, moccasins, and jewelry.
What did Natives use porcupine quills for?
Before European traders introduced glass beads, indigenous communities across North America used brightly colored porcupine quills for decorating surfaces of clothing and utilitarian objects.
How is quillwork done?
Dyed with aniline dyes or in “teas” made of natural materials, the quills are softened in the mouth and then wrapped around thread or sinew stitched to tanned leather. Designs can be simple or complex, and there are many ways of wrapping and plaiting the quills to achieve different patterns.
What tribes did quill work?
The act of adorning personal items with dyed porcupine quills is an ancient Native American art form primarily used by the Plains Indian tribes before the introduction of glass beads.
How do you clean porcupine quills?
To clean the plucked quills, remove any fur or detritus, and then soak the quills in hot soapy water, rinse, and repeat until the quills are a nice bright white color. This should remove the oils from the quill, and make dying them much easier.
What are porcupine quills?
Quills are modified hairs and are covered with scales that act like fishhook barbs causing the quills to keep moving inward, deeper into the tissue. Porcupine quills can puncture the skin and move through muscle, ultimately penetrating into body cavities and internal organs.
Are porcupine quills good luck?
Porcupine quills have long been a favorite ornament and good-luck charm in Africa. The hollow rattle quills serve as musical instruments and were once used as containers for gold dust. In addition to being targeted for their quills, they are illegally hunted for their meat.
Are porcupine quills antibiotic properties?
Porcupine quills possess antibiotic properties. The antibiotic activity is associated with free fatty acids (but not neutral lipids) coating the quills. Extracts of quill fatty acids strongly inhibited the growth of six grampositive bacterial strains.
Are porcupines good luck?
In some Southwestern tribes, such as the Hopi, porcupines are seen as a symbol of humility and modesty. In others, porcupines were considered lucky animals– in particular, a hunter who spotted a porcupine was sure to have a good day hunting. Porcupines are also used as clan animals in some Native American cultures.
What Native American tribe created the shoulder bag?
A bandolier bag or gashkibidaagan is a beaded shoulder bag with a wide strap often ornately decorated with beadwork made by the Ojibwe women. Also known as Bandolier bags, similar bags are made and worn by several North American tribes.
How do you harden porcupine quills?
A touch of glue on the knots will harden them. The quills may not be hollow. You might need to use a jewelry pliers to carefully push the needle and pull the thread through the core of the quill.