The bead pattern on the finger woven strap was taken from an original that was sold thru Sotheby's New York in Nov. 1995. A rather unusual piece because the bead pattern is different in the center third of the strap than it is on the end thirds. Mike Galban asked me to copy the original for him and after I did so I decided to make a strap using the same pattern but altered it by making it longer. The white glass beads are woven in as were the beads on the original. I have been weaving "in the white" and dying the finished pieces with natural dyes afterwards for many years now and feel it gives a look much more like the originals that we see that are dyed in various reddish tones using madder root or ladies-bed-straw, which is a form of madder native to North America and was well known to the Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands and Great Lakes. I contacted Mike Small and he agreed to make the Micmac style horn to complete the set for the CLA Live Auction. He chose to reproduce a horn from Steven V. Grancsay's book "American Engraved Powder Horns" There are several horns of this style in various collections and some feel that they were probably traded to the Natives as plain horns and were decorated with traditional designs by the owners.
The
CLA Live Auction will be on Friday, August 20th at 4:00 PM.
Copy by Tom Condé with photos by Bob Webb.
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