So I have joined a women's craft night on Tuesday nights at Kitti Hall, which is hosted by the Hamlet's Recreation Department. Nellie, the Rec Coordinator is a middle aged woman who decided it would be nice to get people together to do crafts and socialize at the same time. People can do whatever they feel like, but she also has a specific project to work on for those who want to learn something new. We've started with beading, which is very popular amongst Native American and Inuit cultures.
What I have started to work on is the beading which will be displayed on the top part of a pair of slippers. I have included a picture below which shows the type of slippers that should be the ultimate result of my class:
To start, I had to trace and cut out two pieces of stroud, which is the material that the beads are sewn to, and then hand stitch it on to pieces of paper bag, which I am assuming makes the material stiffer, and easier to work with. Then, Nellie drew a flower pattern that is easy for beginners onto one piece of the cutout stroud with pencil. I had to go over the pattern with a dark pencil, such that the other piece of stroud could be laid face down onto the pencilled pattern, and the flower pattern could be transferred. It is of the utmost importance that the patterns look identical, or I guess the beading will look silly when the two slippers are eventually on someone's feet.
To actually do the beading, some thicker, stiffer thread is required, and you use two needles and pieces of thread. There is a bead needle, onto which beads are threaded, and then another needle with just a piece of thread. You then lay the beads down onto the fabric, and stitch between each bead, anchoring the thread that the beads are strung onto. I'm not sure whether that explanation makes any sense, but I'm planning on doing a step by step photo documentation of the next one that I work on.
Then, you basically work from the inside out, doing the centre of the flower first, followed by the petals, leaves, and finally filling in the rest of the beaded area with white beads.
I am enjoying doing the beading, as well as getting out to intermingle with other people from the community once a week. It is a good way to get to know people, and to show that I am interested in learning more about the culture, and am interested in the same things that people here like to do. Furthermore, now wherever I go, there are women asking me how the beading is going, and when I had it out to work on the other day at the airport, ladies were coming up to me to give me advice, and even to take it out of my hands to show me their techniques and tricks of the trade.
Here is what I've done so far. This one is almost done, I just have a bit more white to do. I will surely finish it this weekend. I would say that I have put easily put 30 hours of work into this one piece, so as you can tell, these are time consuming little projects, and also a bit tough on the fingers! Lets hope they turn out well and that I eventually have a nice pair of handmade slippers to wear. Then, I will feel accomplished!
p.s. I'm my own harshest critic, I know, but I'm not exactly pleased with how this one is turning out so far... it's not as tight or straight as it should be, so I might do a third one, and this one can be scrapped. We'll see. Marilyn and Tina at work assure me that the top five or so lines of beads will be covered by fur anyway on the slippers, but I'll always know there are flaws!
Oh! And yesterday at a lunch meeting, Deon just so happened to win a doorprize, which was a big piece of stroud, which will be perfect should I decide to do some more beading projects in the future! Apparently it's expensive to come by up here, when it is actually in stock at the Northern. Needless to say, he passed his doorprize on to me.
