Sadly, I can no longer recommend the Baraka Chronicles. Anyone who gathers porcupine quills for the sole purpose of decorating a mirror frame (poor porcupine!) is not quite as cool as I thought. They even had their local “herbalist” find them a “porcupine pelt” for more quills. Eeeeew, hshuma.
I Withdraw
21
Dec
Maryam in Marrakesh
December 22, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Oh eek! (I had actually forgotten all about the Baraka Chronicles – I have not read them in ages).
TraciSue
December 26, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I could not read the entire post on Baraka. But, I would like to introduce you to other porcupine quill work. It won’t hurt, I promise.
Back in the day before Native Americans had access to small glass bead, they used softened quills to create some beautiful works. Unless one knows what they are looking at, it is difficult to tell the difference between beading or painting.
http://www.nativetech.org/quill/quilintr.html
The quills are the soft ones, dyed beautiful colors and soaked before being used. The women would place them in their mouths to soften them up.
I have used quills myself to decorate small bags for friends. It is an easy skill to pick up, but it takes a lot of practice to fold the quills just right.
Felix
December 26, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Hi TraciSue – Thanks for stopping by! I agree, many Native Americans made beautiful designs with porcupine quills. The key difference for me is that they killed the porcupine for food first, the quills were just a side benefit. I don’t think most people today are eating porcupine, and the Baraka Chronicles sure aren’t. I prefer what these artists are doing :
“Quills are still used for decoration by the Athabaskans of Interior Alaska. Natives used to kill porcupines just for their quills, but today the Natives corner the animal and then tap the back of the animal with a styrofoam paddle to collect all the quills they need. The quills are dyed with locally obtainable vegetable materials and then sewn into skin clothing, earrings, and artistic items.”
Cool, eh?
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/kids/porcupine.shtml