by Tara Prindle, Waaban Aki Crafting
Cut two identical ovals out of heavy weight leather, one oval for each end of the wampum belt. Measure the width of the oval to be 'a hair' wider than your woven beadwork (by about 1/8 - 1/4 inch). The length of the flat oval should be at least 3 - 4 inches. If necessary, adjust the length of the oval to be proportionate to the woven piece so that, when folded in half, the leather piece makes a full half circle or U-shape. You can fold a paper pattern in half and in half again (quarters) to achieve a smooth symmetrical curve. First gently mark in pencil the position of the slits down the exact middle of your oval, the same number and position of the warps on the woven piece. Place the end of the wampum belt against your markings to check for accuracy. Cut the slits (**carefully**) using an exacto blade, or cut using the tip of scissors with the leather oval folded in half (making tiny cuts/slits right at the fold). A leather punch would also work to create holes. Cut two more sets of two slits (four more slits in total) about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from either end of the leather oval. These slits need to line up when the leather oval is folded in half and will be used for the actual belt tie.
Thread your warps through the respective slits in the leather oval. Make sure the 'good side' (or if you have a sueded side) of the leather oval is facing the beadwork. If you have trouble getting the warp through, make your slits slightly larger or use needle nose pliers to pull the warp end through the slit. Pull the warps through so that the beadwork is snug against the leather oval (but not too tight!)
Turn the oval over and tie adjacent warps together in a standard overhand knot. This example has an even number of warps so it comes out nicely; four knots in this example. If there is an odd number of warps, still tie them in pairs and tie the last odd one to a warp from the last tied pair.
Tie the warps again: take one warp from each pair and tie it to one warp from the next pair; three additional knots in this example. This amount of tying is usually more than adequate to hold in place without slipping, creates a frigned effect, and doesn't require any sewing.
If your warps are too short to be tied together as in the example above, you can trim the warps to just over a quarter of an inch after they are threaded through the slits.
Using a (glovers) needle or awl and thread, sew adjacent pairs of the trimmed end warps together. Using sturdy thread or (immitation) sinew, two or three stitches around generally holds the warps.
If you have an odd number of short trimmed warps, sew the three center warps all together.
Fold the leather oval in half around the tied or sewn end warps. (Long end warp fringes should all face in the same direction within the folded ovals at either end of the belt). Use two long leather thongs, one for each end tie of the belt. Line up four the slits in either end of the folded leather oval. Thread a thong first through the top slits in both layers, pull the length of thong half way through, and then thread the thong back through the bottom slits in both layers. The two ends of the tie should be of equal length and going through the leather halves in the same direction at either end of the belt.
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