Designs should be drawn onto the birch bark before quilling is started. They can be lightly etched into the surface of the bark with a bone marker or drawn on with pencil. Stencils cut from a layer or two of birch paper can be used to delineate repetitive shapes such as leaves and flower petals that you want to all be the same size.

CHIPPEWA & MICMAC BARK BOXES [Orchard 1984]

Designs used were often floral, reflecting the rich plant life of Natives in the eastern Woodlands; common floral designs include five-petal flowers, plant and tree leaves, strawberry plants. Geometric designs were also used and incorporated zig-zags and chevrons, triangles, diamonds, squares, 8-point starts, parallel stripes and checkerboards, all nested together and integrated into complex designs. People and animals were depicted but not as often as floral and geometric designs. "Many specimens showing realism in design have been collected from the Indians inhabiting the Great Lakes region, while those to the eastward have produced more designs of a geometric nature"(Orchard 1984).

CIRCULAR BOXES WITH FLORAL DESIGNS - OJIBWA & CHIPPEWA [Orchard 1984]