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Mailing Address: P.O. Box 645 Vernon, CT 06066
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Waaban Aki Crafting |
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The simulated wampum beads which I create measure approximately 1 cm in length by 1/2 centimeter in width. There are approximately five beads per inch when woven side by side, so for example, with a bracelet piece five or six inches in length you will need a length of 25 to 30 beads per row. And using thick leather or cord as your warp, two beads woven end to end across the piece (a single row) would result in a piece about one inch wide. Although there is no 'standard size', for example a bracelet piece 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide you'll want to be weaving three or four rows of beads beads, you should count on using at least (25beads x 3rows) 75 beads to (30beads x 4rows) 120 beads per woven piece.
For a larger waist belt you can use this calculation to estimate the number of beads needed: Thedesired length of belt in inches X 5 beads per inch x number of rows wide (or 2 X the desired width of belt in inches) = total beads needed. IE:: 34 inch length x 5 beads per inch x 6 rows wide (or 2 x 3 inch width) = 1020 total beads needed. If ordering beads, please order them in even 'lots' of 100 beads as that is how I measure them out. (ie: 600 purple and 400 white, or 300 purple and 1200 white, etc.)
I do sell some materials to weave with my wampum beads . I recommend using a thick soft leather thong or heavy (jute or hemp) cord for the warp (not the seed bead thread), and an "imitation sinew" (waxed nylon cord) available from Indian Craft supply companies or the craft section of good department stores.
For warp for wampum belts, I use heavy weight (moccasin weight) elk hide that I cut into strips about 1/5 an inch wide -- basically, the same thickness as the diameter of the beads. If you use scrap leather like I do, start at the edge of the piece and cut around and around in circles from the outside inward (rounding off corners that become to sharp a curve).
For weft, I use 'imitation sinew' (basically waxed nylon or waxed polyester cord). While I don’t carry the warp and weft supplies, most on-line Indian craft supply places like Wandering Bull or Crazy Crow will carry it -- the waxed nylon comes in full pound or half-pound spools (it's kind of expensive, but lasts a long time). The way it is made, imitation sinew will split from the full thickness into four or five smaller thickness’ -- use the smaller thickness (about the diameter of dental floss) for weaving through the beads. Walmart or hobby stores in their craft section might sell it in smaller spools -- if you cant find it -- dental floss actually works quite well!! (just avoid the green mint kind *smile).
A thin tapestry or darning needle that slips easily through the beads works best for stringing my beads and for weaving with them. I have basic instructions on weaving wampum belts on my nativetech.org website -- I generally use the single needle method, of stringing the beads on the weft, placing them under the warp cords, then passing the weft back through the beads on the upper side of the warp cords. See: NativeTech's history of wampum, at the bottom of the page are my links to single strand and double strand weaving techniques:
The two needle method is (by my research) the earliest of techniques, predating the single needle method and perhaps even used in hand held weaving methods similar to finger weaving where the warps are pulled through the spaces between each bead in the doubled weft. The weaving technique is made faster by fixing the warp on both ends, and using needles on each of the wefts, placing the beads on the lower weft, situating the beads between the warps with both ends fixed, and running the upper weft through the beads over the warps.
Which ever needle technique you use, care should be taken not to make the lower weft too tight, leaving a bit of 'slack' so that no stress is put on the insides of the beads as the upper weft is then pulled through the beads. When pulling the upper weft through the beads, it's best done one or two beads at a time, to minimize stress on the beads.
To see an illustration of a traditional "bow loom" (which is extremely easy to make from a branch and pieces of heavy cardboard) please see my wampum weaving and history articles on my NativeTech website -- you'll also find some examples of patterns there that you can be simplified. Specifically see http://www.nativetech.org/wampum/wamphist.htm and I maintain a section of links to other websites about wampum
For other bibliographic resources you can look through my NativeTech book resources.
The book put out by Iroqrafts is a great resource for Iroquois belt patterns
Tehanetorens (Ray Fadden)
1972 Wampum Belts.
Onchiota, NY.: Six Nations Indian Museum. Reprinted 1983. Ontario, Canada: Iroqrafts ltd.
|
E-mail Address:
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 645 Vernon, CT 06066
© 1997-
Waaban Aki Crafting |
Home Page |