Quills

now that the craft fair is over I can turn my attention to other projects that had been put on hold...I need to decorate the handle of a turkey wing fan that a friend made for me and also get back to Beckie's doll (she has been very patient with me!)...Ray & I swap out regularly: he made my fan and in return I'll decorate the handle of his fan; he restrung my old Naja necklace for me with some 1930's silver beads I got on ebay and also strung a new Naja necklace with some really nice Sleeping Beauty Mine turquoise beads that I purchased. Now he has asked me to decorate his pipe stem (he has been carving a block of catlinite for nearly a year but is almost done). I'm honored to do this but a bit nervous as it must be done right....so I think I will try to learn quill work and then hopefully wrap it with strips of plaited quills. Have been looking at photos of pipes both old and new to get a better sense of how they should look; also received the new catalog from Sherwoods (an expensive gallery in New Mexico): 19th Century Native American Pipe Stem and Bowl Collection with material from Ron McCoy who regularly contributes to American Indian Art Magazine. The information is nice and the photos are amazing, but almost all the attention is devoted to the bowls and the bags and less to stems. I ordered some craft books that explain quill work techniques; the illustrations seem to make sense so I think with some practice and patience I will be able to do it...nothing fancy, but quill wrapping will be more appropriate (and traditional). Eventually I'll bead some hawk feather quills and add ermine tails as well as brass and glass crow beads so it should look pretty good when its all done. I'm really hoping that old dogs can learn new tricks!!