trying to make a gustowe...HELP! :)

[buenagurl05]

Hello All,
Well as you read from the title...i am making my son his outfit and and the last thing i need is his gustowe...one problem: i dont know how...i've been told to ash wood...but was wondering if anyne has any tips on the process or kind of a " how- to" sort of thing. My son is the first boy in my family, so ive never had to make one before..lol...so any tips would be helpful. :)

[Tibiki Kinew]

First since it is his first, take a ball cap and cut the bill off and then sew the split feathers to it real dense so that all you see is the feathers. Later if he still wants to dance that way, then get him a wood frame to be sized for him! This way he gets to dance and you get to feel the first adventure of making it for him!
Most are covered with wild turkey wing feathers split length wise to get the curl to the feathers. Some of the feathers that are better get attached in their entirety,,, mix the depth of the feathers to give it a rise and fall effect of the whole frame work. You can add an extra level of cloth below with a head band of beadwork to make it look like the wood frame version! Make sure that it stays slightly adustable for the boy so that he doesn't loose it while dancing.

[buenagurl05]

hey! thanks for that idea. i think im going to try that out,and your right, atleast he'll have something for now to dance with. it should be fun tryin to do this...lol.. thanks again! :)

[Tibiki Kinew]

Any time that is what we are here for!
So if he enjoys then you can go ahead and make a real wood frame one, once his head size stops growing that is!!! Pitty that you are not allowed to use the feathers that were used on them so many years ago,,, great horned owl and barred owl were the most commonly used on them. My dad has one that is about 1900, and yes it has just owl feathers on it. The frame is a wooden one too and covered with a complete circle of beadwork. There is no padding on the frame at all, just bare wood and it is tied together with sinew. There is a layer of canvas over the top of that and the feathers are all sewn to it in a very tight stitching process so that there are plenty of feathers and you can not see through them to the base material!!!! The person that made this started on the top and worked in ever greater circles down to the bottom edge!

It came from Akwesasne as far as I can get dad to remember and when I was down there in the museum there were similar pieces behind glass!