Sacred Peyote Gourd Rattle and Saging Feather

Commissions, ah, this one was sweeeeeet!
You can click on the images to see them enlarged.

So I haven't posted a lot about my artwork this year, but I have definitely been busy. My art career has taken a turn towards commission work over the past several months, and I ADORE it! Working with clients to bring to life their vision is so much fun, and we end up being not only kindred spirits, and peeps working together, but also good friends after all the wonderful conversation behind and around the projects as well as a host of other things.

The latest project that I've finished has been a joy. I met this woman through membership with some FB groups, and she is a kindred spirit indeed. She is a healer, deeply trained in shamanic practices, and a member of the Native American Church, which has the most beautiful ceremonies that she participates in, traveling across the country, to almost every state. How I would love to join those ceremonies.

So this lovely woman wanted a Saging Feather, and a Peyote Gourd Rattle. The Saging Feather was no problem, as I have made many of them, but I'd never done a Peyote Gourd Rattle.

So with the feather, first she picked out which one she wanted, from the stash that I keep on hand, which I buy from one of four feather vendors, this one comes from Robert Wills, who hand-painted all the feathers for the movie Dances with Wolves, since to use real ones is illegal for all people unless they're card-carrying Native Americans, who have special access since it's part of their heritage and way of life (I hesitate to describe it as "religion") for centuries. There's a list of migratory bird species that are protected by law, not only in the U.S., but also in other regions, and if those laws are broken, people face heavy fines and even jail time for not only killing, but simply possession of parts of these protected species. So we don't mess with that.

I use turkey feathers, which are strong and beautiful, as most other artists do, who make these ceremonial objects, and there's a lot to know about them! I learned that the turkey feather holds a natural curve, coming from the wing, and we can use an iron on both sides of the quill to get it to straighten out. I also learned that we can use steam to smooth out any splits, wrinkles, or curly stuff in the feather itself. So that is the beginning of learning to work with feathers!

Young Eagle Feather

Gitana chose this one - a beautiful hand-painted feather that replicates a young Eagle feather. It's just gorgeous. Look at that long, strong quill! So the questions began. "What colors would you like?" "What kind of fringe would you like?" "Do you have a preference as to fur or can I choose?"

Materials starting to be collected.

Well, she wanted white, and turquoise blue, and she let me choose the fur, which is badger fur, just the most glorious fur for this particular feather you could ever imagine! And I added copper color to add contrast to the two blues and the white.

Fur, handle padding, and fringe tips chosen.

We talked about the fringe tips, and Gita has an association with the bear, so I chose a beautiful white pearl shell bear to add to her fringe, and the rest of the tips were colors that complement the bead pattern on the handle. I padded the quill with soft leather, and you can see that the beautiful badger fur has been added.

How the beading comes along....

When I start beading the handle, I have to start a little ways down from the top, and I bead all the way to the bottom, add the fringe, then go back to the top to close up the "collar" so that the fur and leather are held securely. And so that the transition from beading to fur to feather is pretty seamless and very beautiful. Yes, there is MATH involved in making sure that the number of colors and her pattern will work and sit evenly given the width of the handle. Mostly I pray that my math will work out. This one definitely wants to be hers, and it does, oh YAY!

Handle is done, ready for fringe.

Fringe is done, ready for "collar."

Collar is done and we have a finished feather!! WOOT!

So she's all thrilled with her feather, and though I haven't shipped it and she has never seen or touched it, she says to me, "Hey I would really love a Peyote Gourd Rattle to go with that, you want to make it for me?" She tells me she has been looking for a year for a beader who can do what she envisions. I feel very honored. And I say, "Wow, yes, but I've never done that before." So I offer her a discount on the end price of the rattle and ask if I can ask her a million questions while as I progress with research and work on it, and I promise her that if it doesn't turn out just like she envisions, no obligation to buy.

And WOW. Our journey together begins.

I do the research. I buy the "kit" from a Native American vendor - great materials. Buy supplementary materials to "the kit" because I don't like the dowel they sent me, it's too fat and needs far too much work to carve it down to the shape and size needed. So I buy an "already prepared" handle. Then I do some more research and I know I'll need to make that handle smooth out because my client wants it fully beaded, so I buy some buckskin. Wow it smells so good and it's beautifully worked, brain tanned and smooth and white and soft. And then I begin.

First layer of buckskin ready to receive the horsehair

The first thing I have to do is construct the top, which is supposed to be removable so she can take it apart and travel with it and also in case she wants to change out the seeds or beads inside the rattle - some are more quiet than others, and some have significance for certain ceremonies. So the FIT has to be PERFECT for the top - tight but removable. No pressure, Jen.

Got the buckskin on, got the horsehair on.

And the bummer thing is, though it's manageable, that they ship the horsehair all sort of rolled up in a circle, so that it gets a badass curve in it. And THAT I have to train OUT of it, so I put on little rubber bands.

After the horsehair, the fur.

After the horsehair is on, no small feat, very messy and wonderful, I add the badger fur. Notice here that the horsehair is wrapped with FireLine, as well as glued with EZ6000. Trimming along that bottom edge was the hardest part. 

After the horsehair and fur, the buckskin and beading!

So the next step was to add a layer of buckskin and start beading her pattern on it. Same process as her feather, start close to the top and bead down, then go back and finish the transition between the leather and the fur.

All done, top fits!

So this was what I considered the hardest part of this project - getting the top to stick while in place no matter how she shakes her rattle, but making it removable. I think the spirits were with us while I was working because I shook it hard and it stayed in place. I told her, like a good leather shoe, it might stretch over time, and she might eventually want to glue it in place, but it should last for a good long while just by twisting it overtop the gourd.

So then came the handle....

When I ordered the "kit," they sent me a smooth, fat dowel for the handle, but I didn't like that because we'd have to do all kinds of work to carve the tip that goes through the gourd, so I ordered the already carved handle that they had available. It also came with some challenges. It was carved nicely to go through the gourd, but also had two areas of indentation that were great for beading but not if the beading was to go all the way down the handle. They were designed for beading on top and bottom but not middle. So my challenge was to make it smooth all the way down, and I used the gorgeous buckskin to make two layers on the parts that were too thin. It was important to do this right so that it would eventually turn out even and smooth with the beading overtop of it. So I added two buckskin layers to the thin parts and prayed, lol.

The 12 traditional rolled buckskin fringe pieces.

While smoothing out the handle, I also had to accommodate the traditional 12 rolled buckskin fringe pieces that have a very special meaning. So I glued and FireLine wrapped those before covering them with the smoothing layer of buckskin. No small challenge. I prayed some more....

Beading on the handle starts, yay!

Transition from buckskin to wood, will it work?

I was wondering if it would get all slippery when I transitioned from the soft, sort of "sink in" buckskin, which I love to bead, to the hard wood, and it worked beautifully. Oh YAY and thank you angels all! We had a smooth seamless transition! WOOT!

The handle is coming along....

The handle wanted to be with her sisters, the top and the gourd, so let me bead her all the way down and the process went smooth as silk. WOOT!

Yes, we have a finished handle! WOOT!

But that was not enough. You know me. I want to stretch for the best every time, so I wanted to see if I could do the inside collar of the gourd itself since I'd seen one done like that.

Yep! The collar. Woot!

So I spent not one, not two, but THREE times trying to get this right. Wow it was hard. First you have to cut out the circle just right, then design the pattern, then bead it so it sits right - so many things could go wrong, but they didn't. We got our beautiful collar and now her gorgeous Peyote Gourd Rattle is done!

Wow what a project. I feel very honored to have the opportunity to work on it. It is most beautiful and I feel so good that she will be working with it in ceremony. Oh so many good times coming with that!

Thank you lovely Gita for working with me. This was a pure pleasure all the way!

TA DA!! Magic forthcoming! XO

Namaste,
Jen