Category: How To

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Gustoweh Headdress Instructions

Gustoweh Headdress Instructions

Gustoweh Headdress Instructions

An Eastern Woodland Gustoweh (“Real Hat”) is a traditional Native American headdress. This is one of the most appropriate headdresses for Eastern Woodlands Indian Regalia. Follow these Gustoweh Headdress Instructions to make your own ‘Real Hat’!

Materials Needed:

You can acquire these materials separately or purchase a Gustoweh Headdress Kit from the Wandering Bull with the supplies you need to make a Gustoweh! Continue reading Gustoweh Headdress Instructions

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Porcupine Roach Instructions

porcupine roach

Making a Porcupine Roach

The  Porcupine Roach is one of the most beautiful and practical headpieces of the North American Indian. Many different men’s dance styles use porcupine roaches.  The following directions will show you how to make a long porcupine roach.   You can also use the same technique to make a shorter or a round porcupine roach.

Materials Needed:

  • Porcupine hair
  • Roach Base
  • Imitation Sinew
  • Deer Tails
  • Large Needle
  • Scissors
  • Frame for tying rows of hair
  • Glass Jar/ Cup  approx. 4″ tall x 3″ wide (to hold the Porcupine hair)
  • Roach Stick (a 2.5″ dowel 6″ longer than the finished roach – with a nail in the top to hold the roach in place)
  • Elastic style bandage for wrapping completed roach

Continue reading Porcupine Roach Instructions

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How to make a Cowrie Shell Necklace

Cowrie Shell Necklace Kit

Cowrie Shell Necklace 

Native Americans have traded Cowrie shells amongst themselves for hundreds of years. They use these shells to decorate their clothing and to make jewelry.  The European traders brought glass beads to trade with the Native Americans.  These beads were eagerly adopted by Natives and also used them to create jewelry. Our Cowrie shell necklace is a very traditional, yet simple necklace to make, so you can show off your new necklace in no time at all! Continue reading How to make a Cowrie Shell Necklace

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Breastplate Plains Style Instructions

breastplate instructions plains style

Plains Style Breastplate 

The Hairpipe Breastplate has historically been associated with the Comanche. They were first created in the mid 19th century  and were adopted by many other tribes of the Great Plains.  The term “Hairpipe” is used to describe the long, slim, hollow beads made from animal bone that are used to make Breastplates.

How to make a Plains Style Breastplate – 36 rows long:

You can make a longer Breastplate by using more Hairpipe and longer Breastplate  strips

Continue reading Breastplate Plains Style Instructions

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Chicken Dance Bell Instructions

Chicken Dance Bell Kit Instructions

It’s Easy to Make your own Chicken Dance Bells!

Use the Chicken Dance Bell Kit Instructions by The Wandering Bull Native American Trading Post to made your own Chicken Dance Bells. Chicken Dance Bells are long enough to extend from the waist to the ankle. They are tied in three places, at the ankle, just above the knee and to a belt at the waist. The Wandering Bull Trading Post has everything you need to make your own Chicken Dance Bells. Use the suggested supplies here, or customize your Chicken Dance Bells with your preferred supplies. Continue reading Chicken Dance Bell Instructions

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Make Your Own Bolo Tie!

Silver Bolo Tie

What is a Bolo Tie?

A Bolo TieSilver Bolo Tie is kind of a cross between a necktie and a necklace.  They are often made with a braided leather cord with decorative metal tips on the ends.  The focus of the Bolo Tie is a slide that features a decorative item like a stone cabochon, a beaded rosette, a silver concho, or other items that have a flat back that can be attached to the slide. Continue reading Make Your Own Bolo Tie!

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Deerskin Lacing & Lace Maker Tool

Deerskin Lacing - Lace Maker Tool

Deerskin Lacing for Native American Crafts

Deerskin lacing is great for Native American craft-making. You can use it for stringing and tying jewelry (chokers, bracelets and more), garment lacing, making fringe, braiding a headband, or wrapping a metal ring to make a dream catcher. These are just a few examples of uses for soft deerskin leather lace. Here at The Wandering Bull, we cut our own Top Grain Deerskin into Continue reading Deerskin Lacing & Lace Maker Tool

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Bead Looms – History and Usage

Andy Bullock Loomwork

Bead Looms & Beadwork History

Native American beadwork, like quill work before it, is a decorative art form.   Almost as soon as seed beads were available, native women invented two techniques for using them: loom beading and applique embroidery. Those two techniques are still in use today. Loom-beading and a form of single-needle weaving (peyote beading) are not adaptations of techniques known to European or other cultures –  they are native inventions. Continue reading Bead Looms – History and Usage

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Real Animal Sinew and Imitation Sinew

Real Sinew and Imitation Sinew

What Is Real Animal Sinew?

Sinew is a fibrous band of tissue also known as a tendon. Tendons connect muscles to bones in animals. These fibers have been used by many pre-industrial societies because they are strong and durable. Real animal sinew has unique properties which make it an excellent material for sewing and binding. It contains natural proteins that act like glue and it shrinks as it dries, so it doesn’t need to be knotted. Continue reading Real Animal Sinew and Imitation Sinew

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White Sage Smudging How To

Wandering Bull Botanicals

White Sage for Smudging Rituals

White Sage Smudging SticksWhite sage for Smudging can be rolled into a smudge stick or left loose in a small pile for purification and cleansing rituals. Smudging rituals are done in several ways. You may see dancers being smudged before they enter the dance circle at a Powwow. White sage is also used in purification rituals on individuals who require healing for physical or psychological illness. Rooms in a new house, or a meditation space can be smudged to cleanse them of negative energy.  Ritual items like crystals can also be smudged to clear them of negative energy. Continue reading White Sage Smudging How To