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" JUST BEGUN "
There are a variety of methods used to attach quills to the different functional items. While all quillwork forms are rare, some forms are more uncommon than others.
One method still used today is the wrapping of quillwork on rawhide, it was used on many items in the past including the bottom tab on men's formal pipe bags, and arm bands for the dance. Their are many other wrapped quillwork items, such as, hat bands, friendship bracelets, earrings, barretts, medallions, bolo ties, and necklaces.
Another method is stitching porcupine quills directly onto soft buckshin, this is done today by very few artisans, and these items include items such as, pouches, baby moccasins and turtle amulet style necklaces.
Still another form of quillwork is, that of the plaited quillwork, which is done by using two string loom braids and quilling them into a colorful cord which is then applied to objects, such as tampers, pipe stems, and hair pins used to secure the roached style head dress.
Please understand that, as you take pleasure in the wearing of any quilled item, a multifocal and/or multipurpose goals are attained and they are, A). You are helping us keep this very special art alive, B). For what ever the reason you possess a quilled piece, Know that it is an heirloom.
The Quillwork Girl and her Seven Star Brothers
good at quillwork, so good that she was the best among
all tribes everywhere. Her designs where radiant with
color, and she could decorate anything----clothing,
pouches, quivers, even tipis.....................
~
One day this girl sat down in her parents' lodge and
began to make a man's outfit of white buckskin----
war shirt, leggings, moccasins, gauntlets, everything.
It took her weeks to embroider them with exquisite
quillwork and fringes of buffalo hair marvellous to look at.
Though her mother said nothing, she wondered. The
girl had no brothers, nor was a young man courting her,
so why was she making a man's outfit?.......
~
As if that wasn't strange enough, no sooner had she
finished the first outfit than she began working on a
second, then on a third. She worked all year until she
had made and decorated seven complete sets of men's
clothes, the last a very small one. The mother just
watched and kept wondering. At last after the girl had
finished the seventh outfit, she spoke to her mother.
"Someplace, many days' walk from here, live seven
brothers," she said. "Someday all the world will admire
them. Since I am an only child, I want to take them for
my brothers, and these clothes are for them."
~
"It is well, my daughter," her mother said. "I will go with
you." "This is too far for you to walk," said the girl.
" Then I will go part of the way," said her mother.
~
They loaded their strongest dogs with the seven bundles
and set off toward the north. "You seem to know the
way," said the mother. "Yes, I don't know why, but I
do," answered the daughter.....................
~
"And you seem to know all about those seven young men
and what makes them stand out from ordinary humans."
"I know about them," said the girl, "though I don't know
how.".....................
~
Thus they walked, the girl seeming sure of herself. At
last the mother said, "This is as far as I can go." They
divided the dogs, the girl keeping two for her journey, and
took leave of each other. Then the mother headed south
back to her village and her husband, while the daughter
continued walking into the north.....................
~
At last the daughter came to a lone, painted, and very
large tipi which stood near a wide stream. The stream
was shallow and she waded across it, calling: "It is I,
the young-girl-looking-for-brothers, bringing gifts."
~
At that a small boy about ten years old came out of the
tipi. "I am the youngest of seven brothers," he told the
girl. "The others are out hunting buffalo, but they'll be
back after a while. I have been expecting you. But
you'll be a surprise to my brothers, because they don't
have my special gifts of knowing and of 'No Touch'"
~
"What is the gift of no touch?" asked the girl.
"Sometime you will find out. Well, come into the tipi."
The girl gave the boy the smallest outfit, which fit him
perfectly and delighted him with its beautiful quillwork.
"I shall take you all for my brothers," the girl told him.
"And I am glad to have you for a sister," answered the
boy.....................
~
The girl took all the other bundles off her two dogs' back
and told them to go back to her parents, and at once
the dogs began trotting south.....................
~
Inside the tipi were seven beds of willow sticks and sage.
The girl unpacked her bundles and put a war shirt, a
pair of leggings, a pair of moccasins, and a pair of
gauntlets upon each of the older brothers' beds.
Then she gathered wood and built a fire. From her packs
she took dried meat, dried choke cherries, and kidney fat,
and cooked a meal for eight.....................
~
Toward evening just as the meal was ready, the six
older brothers appeared laden with buffalo meat. The
little boy ran outside the lodge and capered, kicking his
heels and jumping up and down, showing off his quilled
buckskin outfit.....................
~
"Where did you get these fine clothes?" the brothers
asked. "We have a new sister," said the child. "She's
waiting inside, and she has clothes for you too. She
does the most wonderful quillwork in the world. And
she's beautiful herself!".....................
~
The brothers greeted the girl joyfully. They were struck
with wonder at the white buckskin outfits she had brought
as gifts for them. They were as glad to have a sister to
care for as she was to have brothers to cook and make
clothes for. Thus they lived happily.....................
~
One day after the older brothers had gone out to hunt,
a light-colored buffalo calf appeared at the tipi and
scratched and knocked with his hoof against the entrance
flap. The boy came out and asked it what it wanted.
~
"I am sent by the buffalo nation," said the calf. " We have
heard of your beautiful sister, and we want her for our
own." "You can't have her," answered the boy. "Go
away." "Oh well, then somebody bigger than I will come, "
said the calf and ran off jumping and kicking his heels.
~
The next day when the boy and the sister were alone
again, a young heifer arrived, lowing and snorting, rattling
the entrance flap of the tipi. Once more the child came
out to ask what she wanted.....................
~
"I am sent by the buffalo nation," said the heifer." We
want your beautiful sister for ourselves. "You can't have
her," said the boy. "Go away!" "Then somebody bigger
than I will come," said the heifer, galloping off like the
calf before her.....................
~
On the third day a large buffalo cow, gruntly loudly,
appeared at the lodge. The boy came out and asked,
"Big buffalo cow, what do you want?"
~
"I am sent by the buffalo nation," said the cow. "I have
come to take your beautiful sister. We want her." "You
can't have her," said the boy. "Go away!" "Somebody
very big will come after me," said the buffalo cow," and
he won't come alone. He'll kill you if you don't give him
your sister." With these words the cow trotted off.
~
On the fourth day the older brothers stayed home to
protect the girl. The earth began to tremble a little,
then to rock and heave. At last appeared the most
gigantic buffalo bull in the world, much larger than any
you see now. Behind him came the whole buffalo nation,
making the earth shudder. Pawing the ground, the huge
bull snorted and bellowed like thunder. The six older
brothers, peering out through the entrance hole, were
very much afraid, but the little boy stepped boldly outside.
"Big, oversized buffalo bull, what do you want from us?"
he asked.....................
~
"I want your sister," said the giant buffalo bull. "If you
won't give her to me, I'll kill you all." The boy called for
his sister and older brothers to come out. Terrified they
did so. "I'll take her now," growled the huge bull. "No,"
said the boy, "she doesn't want to be taken. You can't
have her. Go away!" "In that case I'll kill you now,"
roared the giant bull. "I'm coming!" Quick, brother, use
your special medicine!" the six older brothers cried to
the youngest.....................
~
"I am using it," said he. "Now all of you, catch hold of the
branches of this tree. Hurry!" He pointed to a tree
growing by the tipi. The girl and the six brothers jumped
up into its branches. The boy took his bow and swiftly
shot an arrow into the tree's trunk, then clasped the
trunk tightly himself. At once the tree started to grow,
shooting up into the sky in no time at all. It all happended
much, much quicker than it can be told.....................
~
The brothers and the girl were lifted up in the tree
branches, out of reach of the buffalo. They watched the
herd of angry animals grunting and snorting, milling
around the tree far below.....................
~
"I'll chop the tree down with my horns!" roared the giant
buffalo. He charged the tree, which shook like a willow
and swayed back and forth. Trying not to fall off, the girl
and the brothers clutched the branches. The big bull had
gouged a large piece of wood from the trunk.
~
The little boy said, "I'd better use one more arrow." He
shot an arrow high into the treetop, and again the tree
grew, shooting up another thousant feet or so, while the
seven brothers and the girl rose with it.....................
~
The giant buffalo made his second charge. Again his
horns stabbed into the tree and splintered wood far and
wide. The gash in the trunk had become larger.
~
The boy said, 'I must shoot another arrow." He did,
hitting the treetop again, and quick as a flash the tree
rose another thousand feet.....................
~
A third time the bull charged, rocking the tree, making it
sway from side to side so that the brothers and the girl
almost tumbled out of their branches. They cried to the
boy to save them. The child shot a fourth arrow into the
tree, which rose again so that the seven young men and
the girl disappeared into the clouds. The gash in the tree
trunk had become dangerously large.....................
~
"When the bull charges again, he will shatter this tree,"
said the girl. "Little brother, help us!"
Just as the bull charged for the fourth time, the child
loosed the single arrow he had left, and the tree rose
above the clouds.
~
"Quick, step right out on the clouds. Hurry!" cried the
little boy. "Don't be afraid!".....................
~
The bull's head hit the tree trunk with a fearful impact. His
horns cut the trunk in two, but just as the tree slowly
began to topple, the seven brothers and the girl stepped
off its branches and into the sky....................
~
There the eight of them stood. "Little brother, what will
become of us now? We can never return to earth; we're
up too high. What shall we do?"
~
"Don't grieve," said the little boy, "I'll turn all of us into
stars.....................
~
At once the seven brothers and the girl were bathed in
radiant light. They formed themselves into what the
white men call the big dipper. You can see them there
now. The brightest star is the beautiful girl, who is
filling the sky with glimmering quillwork, and the sar
twinkling at the very end of the dipper's handle is the
little boy. Can you see him?.....................
~
LEGAL PLAN
CHASKA
RATT'S UPHOLSTERY
SISOKA
