Beadwork: Lifestyle or Chore?

[Blackbear]

Not boring at all! I loved your story!

[turtleclaninc]

true bead tales #2

Sekoh.....In 1990 Congress Introduced in to Law The NAGPRA Act.( Native American Graves Protection and Repatration Act. )The Law called for the return and Repatration of Native American Human Remains by all Federal agencies and any state or local Government that recieved any kind of federal funds. As a Federaly Reconized Native working for the Government at Fort Hood, our Colonel in charge of DPW asked if i would help since Ft. Hood was the first to Repatraite under the law To the Comanche Nation. Please read on ..............this is about Beading.......... Anyway my newly assigned tasks involved Traveling to other Federal Bases and aiding the Government establish a positive relation leading up to repatration with Local Nations. an overwhelming task both spiritualy and emotionaly. very humbling. I brought my beading supplies with me everywhere i traveled. and at night after the Meetings would sit in my hotel room and bead. the other people that attenended the meetings would drink all night in the bars. personally i detest alcohol and all it brings to our people. Enough said bout that........ Once we had a three day meeting at Pensicola Air Base in Florida i had brought with me a new Straw Hat ,beaded the rim made a porky quill and seed bead hat band and quilled a medicine wheel on the last day i wore it to the meeting and everyone but the other skins attending didnt believe that i did all that in two days. there was a elder from the Florida Creek Nation there. Chief John Adams he loved the hat. (youze guyz know when elders tell yah they like something yah supposed to give it to em.....boy i cant wait till i get old EH.) when i said my good-bys i gave that hat to John. he's passed on now but his wife still calls on occasions..she always remarks how he bragged about that hat.... just another little story bout those pesky little Beads and the life you weave with em...sincerly out of respect...Onen

[sokoki_wolf]

Sekoh.....In 1990 Congress Introduced in to Law The NAGPRA Act.( Native American Graves Protection and Repatration Act. )The Law called for the return and Repatration of Native American Human Remains by all Federal agencies and any state or local Government that recieved any kind of federal funds. As a Federaly Reconized Native working for the Government at Fort Hood, our Colonel in charge of DPW asked if i would help since Ft. Hood was the first to Repatraite under the law To the Comanche Nation. Please read on ..............this is about Beading.......... Anyway my newly assigned tasks involved Traveling to other Federal Bases and aiding the Government establish a positive relation leading up to repatration with Local Nations. an overwhelming task both spiritualy and emotionaly. very humbling. I brought my beading supplies with me everywhere i traveled. and at night after the Meetings would sit in my hotel room and bead. the other people that attenended the meetings would drink all night in the bars. personally i detest alcohol and all it brings to our people. Enough said bout that........ Once we had a three day meeting at Pensicola Air Base in Florida i had brought with me a new Straw Hat ,beaded the rim made a porky quill and seed bead hat band and quilled a medicine wheel on the last day i wore it to the meeting and everyone but the other skins attending didnt believe that i did all that in two days. there was a elder from the Florida Creek Nation there. Chief John Adams he loved the hat. (youze guyz know when elders tell yah they like something yah supposed to give it to em.....boy i cant wait till i get old EH.) when i said my good-bys i gave that hat to John. he's passed on now but his wife still calls on occasions..she always remarks how he bragged about that hat.... just another little story bout those pesky little Beads and the life you weave with em...sincerly out of respect...Onen

thats a great story and Niawen for the work you did with repariation too ...onen

[oneida_huny]

when I first started beading it was because I knew what I wanted and nobody else could do it EXACTLY as I wanted..lmao. so I start beading. taught myself. didnt know if my work was raised or flat....I was asked what kind I did and all I said was..I dunno i just bead...lol...but it turns out I do raised work. as I continue to bead I amaze myself at how it turns out. To think I could do this and havent been forever is just nuts. now I cant stop beading. I realized not long ago Im addicted to beading. lol. I cant go to bed at night without doing something....anything....and the more I bead the more ideas for beadowrk I have. I bead till my eys r blurry and my fingers ache..lol. I woke up the other day and my fingers were killing me from beading the night before...but the first thing I did was pick up and start again. but now my fingers are use to it. they purty much got no choice. lol. but ima try and post my work on here ASAP. when im done my crown. so prolly next week. but NEWAYZ lol...totally rambled off topic. beading to me when i ftsrt started was a chore...i would get frustrated and wanna cry when all i wanted was to be done but now its totally different. now when i finish something im like...k now the next thing. lol. my hamster wheel is always turning.

[Eagle Plumes]

I enjoy beading...

I can relate to you all when it comes to the need to bead!!! It started out for me when I was about 8 seeing all the pretty beadwork and telling my dad I want that! I had some pieces but of course wanted more so my dad told me if I wanted more i would either have to earn money to buy the beadwork or learn to make my own , so I sat down with my dads beading supplies and with a care package from grandma and my aunties i was soon beading and produced a nice set of hairties and it went from there soon i was beading small things for sale like earings and such and that money would go to more beads and material for a new dress here and there ,I mostly bead for family and for friends who need beadwork if I do have a paying customer i tell them of a waiting list cause i finnish whatever it is im working on befor moving to something new most times enless its a huge project and i have to put it down for a bit ,I am now making a matching braclet to a barrett I made for a friend and bead on it when im caught up on my house work but all I can think of is getting back to my beadwork finnish a piece and go again , My husband told me he wanted something and I said ok tell me and Ill start on it and he diddnt quite know what he wanted I gave him a day told him I was ready and to get it figured out or I was movin on i needed a project! talk about a bead Junkie! I out fit a family of six not counting side projects and my brothers things so not a lot of time to sit and not bead!!! sorry to ramble...

[veritasxl]

Beads. Beads. Beads

Hey everybody, just saw this thread today when I got home. I love to bead and sew. The problem is until latelhy I seldom had a chance to do either for myself. But I do love it when I see the kids/grandkids in stuff I made. So It's both a chore and joy.

I recently got a new sewing machine that lets you scan pictures to it then you can embroider it, great for shawls and you can enhance it by doing an applique stitch around the design. So I've been playing with that. I to like to bead in front of the TV.

I buy beads where ever I go. I fall in love with colors then the design just kinda comes to me. But like all of you said, people are always hitting you up. At the Pechanga powwow this lady came up to me and wanted a Stomp dress (Chickasaw) just the thought of doing all those ruffles. But she saw Homalosa's and wanted one. I did a gold satin Southern Cloth, Kiowa style (with permission) for my granddaughter for the UCLA powwow and put a Hello Kittie (she's tiny tot) on her kerchief. She had rust colored mocs and leggins and several people all at once wanted mocs etc. The only beading stitch I haven't done is the peyote, I get a little intimidated, but I did fix a peyote stitched Bic pin that started coming loose.

I made a beautiful medallion for an extended family member, when all his cousins saw it they wanted one. Hopefully I will stop flying and then can have more time to bead, I like to sew in the morining and bead at night. I even made a pair of mocs on my break on the airplane, and once I actually did do a little beadin. I usually carry something with me on layover. I can take a medium hoop and have several medallions on it, take a bag of beads and relax. Dont make stomp dresses anymore, in fact I had some one in Oklahoma make my new one, so I could do more beadin and embroidery.

Any God bless and peaceful beadin, got to CSI is coming on.

V

[veritasxl]

[Singing Otter]

hehe

........ But like all of you said, people are always hitting you up.

Um...... so can I get a shawl? j/k!! well..... not really.

[veritasxl]

Too Cute...Singing Otter.

You should've seen me. As soon as I got the Machine out of the box I started embroidering eagles all over the place. When I stop flying this year and get a regular job, I will seriously consider doing custome work for extra money. I can't believe the prices on those fancy jeans, my machine does all that and will sew threaded beads as well.

[Singing Otter]

lol I knooowwwwww. I just can't bring myself to get up off of that kind of money for a pair of jeans. Sews threaded beads? woooooooooooooooo I know who I'm hittin up! hahahaha


Lately for me it's just been school and beading. I will be so glad to finish this set. Good gawd I'm ready to be DONE so I can start on the other projects I need to crank out for folks. I love it though. Keeps my hands busy so I don't stop to think about everything.

[beading_4_ndnz]

Beading is a part of me!

When I was about 6 my mom started us kids in pow wow dancing, I remeber going to Rocky Boy pow wow, we thought, wow! an american pow wow! we grew up in a big city (Edmonton) in Canada....... we couldnt get over american pop and commodities! We seen the most amazing beadworks, this was back in the late sixties.......... Both my sister (she's now a well known Canadian Fashion Designer) started to bead and sew. My life wouldn't be the same without beading........I've spent hundreds of hours, some people say, doesn't that make you anti social? Heck no! I'm more grounded it seems, and I have something beautiful to show for it! I remember the outfits I've made, some of my proudest creations are bead works! I love seeing new colors, new sizes, new ideas for bead work, thats why I love pow wows dot com! When I found this web site, I thought, how more papropriate,how much more could a web site fit like a glove? I've made some good friends here too, even though I've never met any in person......... If I can dream it, I can bead it! Right now, I',m working on a pair of moccasins, and I may be desigining an outfit later. ITs how I would like to leave my mark, in addition to trying to be the best person I can to people around me...........

[Okwahocreations]

Beadwork is definately a lifestyle, If been support my family for the past 15yrs by going beadwork, when I get sick of beading, I'll sew or do feather work for a while. Creativity has been the best job I've every had!

[turtleclaninc]

Sekoh Orye
She:kon Yakyatatenonhkwe

This is one of my favorite threads, mostly because the people responding show all the little lifes quirks. Funny how a Seed Bead can change the world. What beader hasn't sold work to make bills in tight situations?. Beaded items to fund the next pow-wow trip?. or how beading teaches paitence love and artistic release. Yet as the stories unfold we see we are imprisoned by these Dang Beads... LOL ..I enjoy all the stories.
thanks to pow-wows.com, moderators and staff and all who post for keeping this site active ........Onen

[Native 1]

yeah I understand about money...one time I had to give up my precious beadwork..that I thought were master pieces...lol because I had to pay some bills...I used to bead to pay bills and I kinda felt guilty because I didn't feel the person who bought them would appreciate them as much..hahaha but then when I go back to that shop and its gone then I know that someone appreciated that particular piece of beadwork...sometimes I can just bead and bead for hours..other times I bead I put it down do other stuff..and then bead again..or sew for awhile and then bead..made alot of things on the road to a pow wow...lol..thats why I always have an on the go bag..with all the stuff I need to finish that one project..lol...like someone said..I drag my feet on a project until I know where each design will go and how it will all come out with the colors I have then I feel confident that this is how its sposed to come out...theres alot of work that it entails but since I learned all kinds of bead work I wouldn't have it any other way...watching my grandmothers bead huge projects and seeing the end result which was always beautiful, encouraged me to do the best I can...sometimes I would unravel something 20x until I felt like its right..my grandmothers/aunts would tell me little tips about beadwork which I still use today and they would sit there and tell stories while beading never messing up their designs etc...I really admired those ladies for carrying on that tradition and that is how I keep on beading...and collecting my beads...lol..I look forward to the bigger pow wows to check out what people have created and also to check out and buy beads...

[turtleclaninc]

well lets hear some of the granny tips....hehe