feature article . . .
Quilling and Trade Beads- -Quilling Cheyenne women's qulling societies undertook quillwork as a sacred task. A woman had to be sponsored and tutored for membership. The objective of these societies was technical perfction in the art. Sacred quillwork in many areas was undertaken to fulfill a vow as a form of prayer for someone. The process of making it was sacred, but the finished piece -- to be worn or used by someone -- was not considered sacred. The product was of secondary importance to the process of creation, according to John C. Ewers, of the Smithsonian Institution. The focus was on the vow, the thoughts and prayers and the work, not on the thing -- very different from Western society, which prizes only things and ignores the process of creation. Wampum Fresh-water clamshells were used for the Haudenosee (Iroquois League) purple and white wampum chains that recorded treaties, sacred ceremonies, and songs before and after the coming of the Europeans. These chains or belts were treated with great respect, and highly valued by their keepers. Agreements were generally recorded this way. The result was that Europeans believed wampum belts or chains were money, and the word "wampum" even became a sort of slang for money. Actually, they were more like important original documents. Native Americans along the eastern coast had their own beads. These beads were made from the "quahog" or hard-shell clam. The hard-clam furnished two colors of Wampum-white and purple. Only a small portion of the shell could be used to make the purple bead, resulting in its value being twice that of the white bead. With the introduction of metal tools to drill and work the clamshell, the beads became more uniform, about one-fourth inch in length and one-eighth inch in diameter. The Dutch and English colonists established factories to speed up the production of Wampum, thus becoming one of the earliest industries in America. John Campbell and his descendants in New Jersey made the bulk of wampum beads traded in this country. Quahog-shells were also sent to Europe to be made into Wampum and then returned to the colonies. Wampum beads were widely used for trade, but were not considered a form of money. These beads were used for personal decoration, and when arranged on a string in a particular color pattern to convey messages between various tribes. Wampum woven belts were often used in ratifying treaties. The arrangement of colors becomes the treaty document. There are records of court judgments and tuition in some of the early American colleges as being payable in Wampum. Beads of the quahog shell remained a medium of trade exchange until 1792, when the United States government established coinage laws bringing into use the first silver dollars and ten dollar gold pieces. Glass beads eventually replaced Wampum as a means of ornamentation. Early Bead History: The history of beads dates as far back as 40,000 years ago, and have been made by every culture since then. Egyptians were making glass beads by 1365 B.C., while several thousand-year old glass factories in Lebanon are still in production. Evidence that China has been making and exporting glass beads for centuries has been revealed in archaeology sites. Glass and Brass beads have been found in burial sites of many cultures: Egyptian tombs, Roman catacombs, Saxon, African, and American Indian. Prior to European contact, beads in North America were made from gold, jade, bone, the blue-green stone turquoise, and hand polished shell beads. Anasazi, Fremont, and other Southwestern Pueblo people traded turquoise throughout the Southwest and into Mexico. Marine shells from the Pacific coast were traded to the Southwest Indians and from the Atlantic coast and the gulf of Mexico to the Mound Builders of the Mississippi River valleys. Indian Fur Trade Beads - Brief History Trade beads facilitated early European penetration of the northern Woodland culture area. They were a useful item for "coureurs de bois" (woods-runners) who carried light trade goods in backpacks on forest trails and in canoes on long early northern woodland travels, pursuing beaver pelts during the 17th and 18th centuries. Lightweight, easy to pack, undamaged by water, immediately desirable to most tribes who never saw them before, beads were among the "gift trinkets" carried by most explorers and expeditions to help in making contact with tribes newly met. October 12, 1492, Columbus recorded in his logbook that the natives of San Salvador Island were given red caps and glass beads. This is the earliest written record of glass beads in the Americas. The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez landed on the coast of Mexico in the spring of 1519. His ships carried glass beads along with other European trade goods. In 1622, a glass factory was built near Jamestown, Virginia. Less than a year later, a raiding party of Indians burned the factory. Very few of the beads made in the Jamestown factory are believed to exist today. Early Spanish Conquistadors and Priests traveled from the Florida Keys to California. In 1741, the Russians reached the coast of Alaska and from there down the western coast of North America. A North West Company trader, Alexander Mackenzie, crossed Canada to the Pacific Ocean in 1793. All of these explorers, as well as David Thompson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, carried glass beads for presents and as a medium of exchange in dealing with the American Indians. Bead prices varied with location, demand, and how bad Indians wanted a particular bead. When trading for beaver pelts, the Hudson's Bay Company used a standard value based on made beaver...a made beaver was stretched, dried, and ready for shipment. Records from early trading posts show a made beaver was worth: six Hudson's Bay beads; three light blue Padre (Crow) beads; two larger transparent blue beads. Little historical information is available on the majority of trade beads discovered in archeological sites. The Hudson's Bay Company has celebrated over three hundred years in North America, but the records on types and descriptions of trade beads, along with invoices, and sources of supply have not survived in their archives. Today the company's only examples of the Hudson's Bay beads are in the Indian Arts and Crafts section of their museums. Chinese Glass Beads - "Peking Glass Beads" China was also a source of glass trade beads. Studies by Peter Francis, Jr., Director of the Center for Bead Research, has shown that beads from China were brought to Mexico with the Spanish galleon trade. This trade route linked Chinese ports with Manila and Acapulco, and from there to the rest of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. Russians acquired Chinese beads from trading post on the Mongolian border and transported them to Alaska. A few Chinese glass beads have been found along with Venetian beads on Spanish colonial 17th century sites...one of America's top archaeologist, David Hurst Thomas, excavated over 62,000 beads from St. Catherine, the northern most Spanish mission on the Atlantic coast. A group of beads not positively identified as Chinese (they have little or no lead, but fit the distribution) are opaque oblates and very short bicones (the red and yellow ones). They are found in Southeast Asia and East Africa from about the 12th century and were important for some time, especially in Africa (Arab traders probably brought them there). The 14th century or a little earlier we have the appearance of beads that are easily recognized as Chinese (mistakenly called "Peking glass") by their large holes, bubbly glass, imperfect shapes, and "peaks" around the apertures. These are clearly products of Boshan in Shandong; Boshan never used lead in its glass. This type of bead became the only one recognized as Chinese for a long time. Beginning in the Qing dynasty, especially under Qian Long (1736-1796), distinctive colors were developed for glazes and glass, becoming another marker of typical later Chinese beads. During the Qing dynasty all members of the court, military officers, their wives, and their children were required to wear "court chains" modeled after the rosary of Tibet. Glass was a very popular material for these beads. Unlike those made for export (above) these beads are well formed with good glass and small holes. They were also often special in shape or design. African Beads - Nuevo Cadiz These African trade beads are often called "Nuevo Cadiz" (see page 28, Collectible Beads). The original "Nuevo Cadiz" beads date to the 16th and 17th centuries. They are much narrower, often twisted, and were traded into South America. These beautiful squared beads were most likely made in the 19th Century. They are made with three layers of glass - a dark blue inner core, a thin white wrapping of glass over it, and then a thick layer of a teal blue transluscent glass over that. They are lovely beads, hefty, and valuable in their own right. The longest bead is 1 7/8 inches long and 3/4 inch across. Early Spanish and Dutch Beads By 1550 there were four kinds of glass beads being made in Europe: drawn, wound, blown and 'frit-cored'; the latter being quite rare in the Northeast, and new varieties and colors were continually developed, some expressly for trade (Monture: 1991). In the 16th century, there are a few square tubular glass beads of Spanish origin found among Natives in the Northeast, but the Spanish seemed generally occupied with commercial endeavors south of New England. During the late 1500's and early 1600's, European prospecting in New England escalated, especially by the French. Giovanni Verrazano was sent by France to define the coastline in 1524, he recorded the trade of 'blue crystals and other trinkets' with Natives (Wroth: 1970). While the French concentrated on acquiring northern territories, the Dutch were more interested in areas to the south. By 1621 the Dutch West India Company was established and focused settlement and trade on the Hudson River, and capitalized on the by-now, well established wampum industry by going into production. Dutch beads traded in the northeast were tubular and larger round necklace beads, with few of the smaller 'seed' beads associated with contemporary Native beadwork. Back in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities a great number of beads were manufactured that made their way into the northeast in throughout the 1600's. References to strings of beads exchanged between Europeans and Native Americans to be worn as necklaces are provided by Juet in 1610 in the 'New Netherlands' (Juet: 1967) in 1610, and also in 1624 by van Wassenaer (1967), as well as in 'New England' in 1622 by Mourt (Heath: 1986) and by Roger Williams (1973) speaking of the Narragansett in 1643. Though the English arrived relatively late on the scene, in the early 1600's, they soon overshadowed the landscape of southern New England. Glass beads did not seem to be a significant part of the English trade inventory, though by the end of the 1600's and 1700's, glass beads did become English trade merchandise. In contrast to earlier trade beads used for necklaces, by the early 1700's tiny glass seed beads grew in popularity as trade items, and these beads were used to ornament clothing, moccasins and other accessories. By the mid 1700's necklace beads became very scarce while seed beads were everywhere; by the end of the 1700's and into the 1800's, tubular glass imitation wampum beads became popular (Wray: 1983). Venetian Trade Beads: A major source of glass beads that would be used in the fur trade was Venice, Italy. Venetians held a near monopoly on the bead industry for nearly 600 years. A guild of Venetian glass makers existed in 1224 A. D.. Around 1291, a large portion of the Venetian glass industry moved to Murano, an island north of Venice; city fathers feared an accident with one of the glass furnaces could destroy the city. For over two hundred years, beads were made in Murano by a method known as "winding." With this method, beads were made individually by drawing a molten glob of glass out of the furnace and winding it around an iron rod. Glass of another color could then be added, or the bead could be decorated with a design. Coloring agents were added to the molten glass: cobalt made blue; copper produced green; tin made a milky white; and gold resulted in red. Wound beads from a master glassmaker were so perfect that it was hard to find a seam where the different molten glasses merged. Another method was blown glass beads. Using this method, a glob of molten glass was removed from the furnace and the desired shape obtained by blowing through a glass tube-much the same way glass vases are made. The glass industry was able to keep up with demand using these two methods until the mid- to late 1400's. Once European countries started sending ships around the world, ship captains and explorers carried beads made of glass, porcelain, and metal to use as gifts, or for the fur trade. The slow method of winding beads could not keep up with this new demand. Venetians by around 1490 started to make beads from tubes of drawn glass; Egyptians may have used this process centuries before. With this procedure, a master glassmaker took a glob of molten glass from the furnace and formed a cylinder. After working the cylinder into the desired shape, he attached a rod to the cylinder. An assistant would take the rod and run down a long corridor before the glass had a chance to cool. This drawn glass tube was about one hundred and twenty meters long. The length of the tube and the amount of glass used determined the size of the beads. Once the tubes cooled, they were cut into meter long pieces. These pieces were cut into beads of various sizes. The cut beads were placed in a large metal drum containing lime, carbonate, sand, carbon, and water. While the metal drum turned, heat was applied to the outside causing the rough-cut edges to be smoothed. After the beads were smooth, they were cleaned and then placed in a sack of fermented bran and vigorously shaken to polish them. The monochrome glass beads of today are not much different from those made five hundred years ago. By the 1500's, the demand for glass beads had grown to the point that Venetians were sending drawn glass tubes to Bohemia. There the glass tubes were broken into beads, polished, and sent back to Venice. The Bohemians (Czechoslovakia) had been making glassware, vases, and cups since the twelfth century. With an abundance of willing workers, quartz for the silicon base of glass, and potash from wood-burning furnaces, Bohemia sent men to work in the glass factories of Murano. The knowledge these men brought back on how to make the drawn glass tubes turned Bohemia into a major producer of glass beads. By the mid-eighteen hundreds, Bohemia was producing more glass beads than the factories in Murano. The aristocrats of the glass beads are the Chevron or Rosetta. They are also called Rosary or Star beads. The word "bead" is derived from the old English word "bedu" meaning prayer. These Paternoster beads are multi-layered and corrugated to produce a star pattern on the ends which often result in stripes on the outside. The original Chevron bead had seven layers. This hand-faceted bead was difficult to make, and in order to meet the demand, variations were made with as few as four layers. These new variations were tumbled instead of being hand-faceted to speed-up the process. The most common Chevrons are the blue, red, and white combination. Green and white, or red and white, Chevrons are rare. Father DeSmet carried these beads in his work with the Plains and Northwest Indian tribes, but there is no evidence that Chevron beads were used during the Indian fur trade period as a trade item. Fur Trade Beads: Padre Beads Padre beads are wound, opaque, light blue glass beads from China. These beads come in three sizes: jumbo (Dogons) 5/8's to 3/4 inch in diameter, mid-sized (Crow beads) 3/8's inch in diameter, and small Pony beads 3/16's inch diameter. Through Spanish and Russian traders, Padre beads spread rapidly into the Southwest and Northwest. In 1778, English explorer, Captain James Cook made several references to the effect that it was difficult to obtain supplies and furs from the Pacific coast Indians without this particular blue bead. Captain Lewis had this to say about Padre beads and the Indians tribes along the Columbia River...only the blue and white beads were acceptable, the most desired, are the common cheap, blue beads called "Chief Beads".... Padre beads were made in a variety of colors, but blue and white were the most sought after by the Northwest Indians. Fur Trade Beads: Vasaline, or Cave Agate Another trade bead was the Vasaline, or Cave Agate. These beads range in a variety of colors. This pressed bead was faceted and transparent. On the earliest Vasaline beads, the hole through the bead is larger on one end; a hot pointed rod was used to make the hole. This bead was widely traded until the mid-1800. After this period, the Indians began to request the smaller seed beads. Russian Blue Beads Russians had little to do with the Russian Blue beads. Produced in Bohemia, the Russian Blue bead did not appear in Alaska until just before Americans bought Alaska (1867). Russians traders acquired these beads from the American and English traders in exchange for furs. The Russian Blue beads are shaped into six-, seven-, or eight-sided tube before being drawn. After the tubes are cut to bead size, the ends of the ridge between the adjacent sides are ground off. The result is a bead with eighteen, twenty-one, or twenty-four facets. Some deviations resulted in more or less facets. Lewis and Clark Bead The Lewis and Clark Expedition carried thirty-three pounds of small trade beads. There are several entries in the various journals kept by the Expedition members about how hard it was to trade for food with any of the beads they carried, except the plain blue and white ones. Hudson's Bay Bead In the mid-1800's, a "Cornaline d'Aleppo" bead became known as the Hudson's Bay bead. This bead has two distinct colors of glass, one color over the other. The outer layer was red and the inner layer a translucent green. The more recent version of the Hudson's Bay bead has a yellow or white center of opaque glass, with the outside having a translucent or opaque red glass. This later version can be found in tubular, ovate, and spherical shapes and in a wide range of sizes. Hubble Bead The last known bead made for Native American trade was the Hubbell bead. This bead was supposedly made for Lorenzo Hubbell owner of the Hubbell Trading Post in Gavado, Arizona. First made in Czechoslovakia between 1915 and 1920, this bead is still being made today. The Hubbell bead came in a variety of sizes, shapes, and shades to imitate a semi-precious stone of the southwest...Turquoise. Records at the Hubble trading post do not support any connection with this bead. Seed Beads Seed beads like those used on this deer skin bag reached the plains Indians in the mid-1840s. The primary beads used by Indian women for decoration were the seed, Pony, and Crow beads. Made of drawn glass, seed beads were under 2.0 mm, Pony, or pound beads, were between 2 and 4 mm, and Crow bead were 4 to 10 mm in diameter. The larger Crow and Pony beads were carried by Lewis and Clark and other early explorers. Crow and Pony beads were hung from, or attached to clothing and horse gear. There is no evidence of seed beads being taken to the Mountain Man Rendezvous during the period 1825 to 1840. Errata: Picture of Horse Bandolier. This thirty-five inch bandolier went around a horse's neck. While on his way to the Columbia River and Fort Astoria in 1811, Wilson Price Hunt mentioned a similar decoration on a Cheyenne Indian horse's neck. This pre-1885 Crow bandolier has on it: Crow beads, vasaline beads, French brass beads, white hearts, Mescal seeds, sea shells, Abalone shells, Dentalium shells, Dutch dogans, watermelon beads, hawk bells, thimbles, buttons, rifle shell casing, bullets, deer dew claws, and a pieces of an American flag. Important Reference? At General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin: book North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to Present by Lois Sherr Dubin. This book is encyclopedic in the breadth of its coverage. Every region north of Mexico is covered. Filled with many color photographs (over 1000). REFERENCES: Websites 2. Prindle, Tara Nativetech: Native American Technology and Art 27 Sept 2001 <http://www.nativetech.org> Tara Prindle has compiled a comprehensive site covering virtually every sort of Native American art. Despite all the information, this site is easy to navigate. The bibliography and list of books in the Beads and Beadwork section is vast with a focus on the northeastern United States. 3. Giese, Paula Native American Indian Art 29 Sept 2001 <http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/art.html> This site consists of a wide variety of Native American art forms and contains links to sites that provide illustrative and written works, as well as commercial sites that sell Native American art. The only drawback to this site is that it has not been updated since 1996. 4. "Native Americans" San Antonio Public Library 29 Sept 2001 <http://www.sat.lib.tx.us/html/nativeam.htm> An entire section of the San Antonio public library website is devoted to a variety of sources and topics relating to Native Americans. Beadwork can be found under the Art heading. This section provides links to sources about specific types of beadwork as well as general sources. Articles 5. Christmas, Darren (Dinetah) "Native American Beadworking" Trading Post - Beadwork 11 Oct 2001 <http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/5292/beadwork.htm> Sizes and types of beads used are discussed and two stitching techniques; overlaid and lazy, are described in detail. A much shorter description of weaving techniques is given as well. A checklist of what to look for when collecting antique pieces ends this article 6. Eddins, O.Ned "Trade Beads for the Indian Trade" The Fur Trapper 11 Oct 2001 <http://www.thefurtrapper.com/trade_beads.htm> Focusing on efforts by the Hudson Bay Trading Company, this article begins with a history of beads and their movement through the United States as trade goods. Details of the manufacture of glass beads in Europe are included. Types of beads used for trade with Native Americans are described and illustrated with color images. Short section towards the end discusses how wampum was created and used. 7. Giese, Paula "History, Cultural Values of Beads" American Indian Beadwork 27 Sept 2001 <http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/beads/art_bead.html> This article contains commentary about the resurgence in the commercial popularity of beadwork from a Native American point-of-view. A brief history about the types of materials that Native Americans continue to use is provided, with emphasis on how European traders used glass beads as they made their way inland across North America. It ends with an emphasis on the personal importance of beadwork amongst Native Americans. 8. Giese, Paula "Seed Beading Techniques" Native American Beadwork: Modern Techniques 29 Sept 2001 <http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/beads/art_bea2.html> This article provides succinct explanations and illustrations of basic beadwork techniques, which utilize Double Needle Applique. The circular rosette, peyote stitch, lazy stitch and loom weaving are the main techniques. A link at the end of the article on where to get beading materials is included. 9. Prindle, Tara "Native American Beadwork: Introduction and Use of Glass Beads" Nativetech: Native American Technology and Art 27 Sept 2001 <http://www.nativetech.org/glasbead/glasbead.html> While not strictly an article on beadwork, this page provides links to articles about glass beads and their use by Native Americans. There are three articles devoted to glass beads and six articles about beadwork techniques. 10. "Beadwork" Historic Crafts & Skills-Beadwork Conservation Commission of Missouri 30 Sept 2001 <http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/teacher/crafts/craft26.htm> Compiled by the Conservation Commission of Missouri, three techniques of beadwork are detailed that use larger pony beads. The beginning of the article provides a list of materials necessary for the project. Beading using a loom is illustrated first followed by use of the lazy stitch and appliqué. 11. "Even Count Flat Peyote Stitch" Jump Start Classroom 11 Oct 2001 <http://www.suzannecooper.com/classroom/flat/flat_class.html> A very simple stitching technique, that would probably be appropriate for younger students. Detailed illustrations and directions are provided. Also on this page are instructions for the more complex odd count stitch. The Jump Start Classroom is a good resource in general for classroom activities. 12. "Round Peyote Stitch" Beltanna's Beadworking 30 Sept 2001 <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/1395/beadwork.html> Focusing on just the peyote stitch this page includes a lot of step by step illustrations. It begins with a list of materials for the project and follows with detailed instructions. A color illustration of a completed amulet bag appears at the end along with some helpful tips. Exhibits 13. "Bandolier Bags" Bandoliers Menu: Native American Beadwork 29 Sept 2001 <http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/beads/bando1.html> In addition to providing images of beaded bandolier bags, this exhibit also explains the context in which they were made and used. A "bandolier" is a type of bag made to be worn over the shoulder and across the chest, and usually has a ceremonial purpose. Native Americans who lived made them in the upper Midwest and the northeastern regions of the United States. This exhibit primarily features badoliers made by members of the Objibwe tribe. 14. "Brilliantly Beaded: Northeastern Native American Beadwork" Hudson Museum University of Maine 29 Sept 2001 <http://www.umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/virtualexhbts.htm> Click on the Brilliantly Beaded link. A variety of items of Native American beadwork are presented in this exhibit. The region covered is the Northeastern United States. Curvilinear and floral motifs are dominant throughout the exhibit. Images can be enlarged so details of each piece can be examined closely. |
past articles . . .
History of the Fox People - History of the Fox People. |
|
How the Cherokee World Was Made
unk In the beginning, Cherokee-Style |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
