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    Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More
    Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More
    Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More
    Ebook465 pages1 hour

    Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More

    By David R. Montgomery

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Crafts and Skills of Native Americans is a fascinating, practical guide to the skills that have made Native American famous worldwide as artisans and craftsmen. Readers can replicate traditional Native American living by trying a hand at brain tanning, identifying animal tracks, or constructing a horse saddle. Readers can even make distinctive Native American beaded jewelry, a variety of moccasins, headdresses, and gourd rattles. Native American style is unique and popular, especially among young people, historians, and those with a special interest in the American West.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSkyhorse
    Release dateJul 27, 2009
    ISBN9781628730234
    Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More
    Author

    David R. Montgomery

    David R. Montgomery, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, is author of King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon.

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    Reviews for Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans

    3.5/5

    4 ratings1 review

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    • 3/5
      What ages would I recommend it too? – Eight and up.

      Length? – Most of a day’s read.

      Characters? – None.

      Setting? – Real World.

      Written approximately? – 2009.

      Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Yes. The color coded sections were interesting. In some places, colored pictures of the items would have been helpful. Some items lacked necessary information for the creation of the item.

      Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Many. What are the size of the animal tracks? What c0olors were the jewelry? And many more.

      Short storyline: Picture with some direction on object creation.

      Notes for the reader: No secrets shared. It read like a kids let's play, create, and pretend manual. I had hoped for some better to use descriptively for writing purposes.

    Book preview

    Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans - David R. Montgomery

    The Native Americans were a resourceful and ingenious people in the types of dwellings they chose to build and live in.

    The Plains Indians developed a structure that was portable, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. It could withstand the winds of the plains and could be packed on a travois with a moment’s notice.The buffalo was the major raw material for the cover and dew cloth although elk and other hides were used. Lodge pole pine was generally used for the framework.

    Anywhere from 10 to 20 hides were sewn together with sinew by tribe members who had the specific skills for tipi construction. Each tribe had their specific style but the tipis were all very similar. Crow Indians used a four-pole lodge as compared to the Cheyenne’s three-pole lodge. The four-pole had shorter smoke flaps and a different cut in the base of the tipi. When white men introduced canvas, the tribes were quick to realize that this material was lighter in weight and much easier than buffalo hides to sew together.

    Today, there is still no substitute for this first portable home.You can throw your 17 poles on top of your 250 or so horses (under the hood), pack the cover, dew cloth, pins, etc., inside and take off for high adventure with a very durable lightweight home.

    The eastern Native Americans used earthen lodges and wigwams. The earthen lodges were constructed to maintain an even temperature and to house more than one family and sometimes even horses. They were dark inside with only the fire providing light. In the West, the early tribes of the Mogollon, Fremont, and Maidu lived in pit houses supported by a center pole with poles around the sides which were covered with thatch, mud, and sod. The wigwam was actually used in the North and upper West Coast as well as in the East and was built in a variety of shapes. Some were built with saplings then covered with birch bark. This was the best shape for a wigwam. Those that allowed for most use of space and retaining heat were the round and oval-shaped wigwams.

    e9781602396760_i0002.jpg

    CHAPTER 1

    SHELTERS

    The western pueblos were constructed of stone, adobe, and wooden beams. Sometimes three and four levels were built on top of each other. These were nestled in large caverns in the cliff sides such as Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly or Colorado’s Mesa Verde. They also were constructed on the flat ground, as can be seen at Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico, or on a high mesa as was old Oribi in Arizona. Taos, New Mexico, and the pueblos of the Hopi such as Walpi, still house families whose ancestors lived there hundreds of years before.

    Famine, wars, and disease caused many tribes to perish or to be dislodged from their natural homes and forced to live in a world that was—and is—in too much of a hurry to modernize. The shelters discussed in this section are only a few of the types that existed, but may be the ones which best suit your needs.

    e9781602396760_i0003.jpg

    Various Native American Tribes

    e9781602396760_i0004.jpg

    Tipi Construction

    e9781602396760_i0005.jpge9781602396760_i0006.jpg

    Top Strip

    e9781602396760_i0007.jpg

    Sew all sections together

    Lay out the canvas on a flat surface, such as a large driveway or use a gym floor, take a heavy cord that doesn’t stretch much, have one person hold it on end of flaps while the other person marks it with an attached pencil.

    e9781602396760_i0008.jpg

    Use two nylon twill tapes 3½′ long; fold them as shown on inside of canvas. Sew for reinforcement by sewing across and up on tab. The ties should be 3′’ long.

    e9781602396760_i0009.jpge9781602396760_i0010.jpg

    Make two rows of button holes ½″ diameter, 9 holes down with 7″ between the up and down hole. Add two below door. Reinforce hole with stitching. Repeat on the opposite side, making holes 1½″ apart.

    Smoke Flap Pole Pocket

    Use an 8″ section by 5½″ of canvas. Taper to top at 3″, fold over and double stitch. Sew cup so the pocket is on the outside of the top flap. Reinforce sewing to the flap. These pockets must take a lot of pressure. One on the upper outside of each smoke flap.

    e9781602396760_i0011.jpg

    Door Flap

    e9781602396760_i0012.jpg

    Dew Cloth Liner

    Your tipi will not function properly without this liner!

    e9781602396760_i0013.jpg

    The liner will go all the way around the inside of your tipi.

    Use 72″ unbleached muslin.

    Cut 10 panels and sew together in 3 sections prior to putting them all together. Then sew 3 sections together.

    Sew 6″-ties to top and bottom as shown.

    e9781602396760_i0014.jpg

    When the tipi is set up, run two thin ropes around the poles. One for the top ties of the liner and one for the bottom ties. Do not attempt to tie liner to poles.

    Note in diagram that there is a portion that folds inward on the ground. Small sand-filled cloth tubes can be laid on them to block drafts.

    e9781602396760_i0015.jpg

    Setting Up the Tipi

    Measure north and south poles from bottom to ties at the top and mark.

    e9781602396760_i0016.jpg

    Measure door pole from ties to bottom and mark pole.

    Mark poles where they cross with enamel or acrylic.

    e9781602396760_i0017.jpg

    Use a clove hitch to tie poles, then wrap and tie once. If you tie them too tight, you won’t be able to adjust them later.

    e9781602396760_i0018.jpg

    The easiest way to pitch your poles is to have a ground cover

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