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:
Continue reading Porcupine Roach Instructions
Roach Spreaders – History
Native American men in North America wear one traditional style of headdress called a ‘Roach’. Natives have made Roaches from Whitetail Deer hair, Moose hair, Turkey Beards, Porcupine Hair, Horsehair or a combination of these. Native Americans have worn some form of Roach headdresses starting before the contact period. Early colonial writings mention these headdresses several times. These early writers sometimes referred to roaches as ‘crowns’ or ‘coronets’.
When wearing a roach, men can also wear a Roach Spreader inside to spread the hair. This way they can achieve a balanced shape for the roach. In order to facilitate wearing a roach, Native American men braid one section of their hair. Continue reading Roach Spreaders – History
Roach Spreaders
Roach Spreaders are required to spread the front hair of your roach. We offer handmade first quality metal Spreaders in a variety of styles. Our Roach Spreaders are hand crafted in the United States!
- Plain Single Socket
- Stamped Single Socket
- Plain Double Socket
- Stamped Double Socket
- Plain Rocker
- Stamped Rocker
- Plain Grass Dancer
- Stamped Grass Dancer
- Stamped Chicken Dancer
Fancy Dancers and Grass Dancers use Rocker Roach Spreaders. The Grass Dancers can use the Grass Dancer Roach Spreader style. The Chicken Dancer Roach Spreader style is for Chicken Dancers.
Straight Dancers use a Single Socket Roach Spreader. Both Traditional and Modern Dancers wear the Double Socket Roach Spreader.
Shop for Roaches!
Read about the History of Roach Spreaders!
Roach – Round Turkey Beard Eastern Style
Master Craftsman Andy Bullock creates Turkey Beard Eastern Style Roaches for us. He starts with a hand braided round yarn base. He uses Turkey Beard hair to make the inner row of the roach and Dark Red Deer Hair for the outer row.
Round Eastern Style Roaches are one type of traditional headwear for Native American Dance Regalia and Historical Re-enactments. Attach a Round Eastern Style Roach to your head with a small hair braid (or scalplock) pulled though the center hole and fastened with a roach pin.
We offer Turkey Beard Roaches as they are available. Quantities are limited! They measures approximately 7″ tall on a 2.75″ base.
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Want to learn how to make your own Porcupine Roach? Read our Porcupine Roach Instructions!
Porcupine Hair Roach Round
Round Eastern Style Roaches are one type of traditional headwear for Native American Dance Regalia and Historical Re-enactments.
These classic Roaches are constructed on a hand braided round yarn base measuring about 2.5″ . Our craftsmen make the inner row of the roach with long natural colored porcupine hair averages 6″ . They use Deer Hair for the outer row. Deer hair averages 2.5″ long.
Round Eastern Style Roaches are available in 4 colors:
- Red
- White
- Purple and White combined
- Dark Red
These Roaches attach to your head with a small hair braid (or scalplock) pulled though the center hole and fastened with a roach pin.
We also offer 16″ & 18″ Long Porcupine Roaches!
Roach Base 18 inch
We offer Roach Bases for you to use to make your own 18″ Roaches. We make ours with acrylic yarn which is lightweight. You will find these Roach Bases softer than rope bases. You will also have an easier time tying the Porcupine hair and Deer Hair to it.
Check out our Ready made Roaches and Roach Making Supplies!
Roach – 16 and 18 inch Porcupine
We offer custom made Porcupine Roaches with colored Deer Hair. Choose from 2 lengths – 16″ long or 18″ long – and 2 colors: Red or White.
We also offer Roaches with the Deer Hair on the outside or Deer Hair on the inside and outside. Make your selections with the drop down boxes below.
Please allow 4 weeks for delivery.
We often have them in stock for immediate shipping, you can call 1-800-430-2855 or email sales@wanderingbull.com to see what is in stock and ready to ship.
Custom orders are Not Returnable. All custom orders are subject to additional shipping charges.
You may also like our Round Eastern Style Porcupine Roaches!
Ball Club with Face and Roach
This large Wood Ball Club features a carved Native American Face. The artist carved a three dimensional face on the ball. Then he applied Red Paint to the face along with dotted markings. Next, he created a custom deer hair Roach and attached it to the Club. The Roach includes a braid of black ‘hair’, a Roach Pin, two Turkey Feathers and two strands of Glass Wampum Beads one of which ends with an oval shaped Quahog Wampum Bead. The handle end has a round cut-out and indented carvings on the sides.
The Club measures approximately 26″ long. The ball end measures about 11″ in circumference. The artist carved it from a single piece of wood. This Club will make a nice display piece or an addition to your Native American Regalia. One of a Kind!
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Roach Spreader Moose Antler 2.5″
Add this 2.5″ Hand Carved Moose Antler Roach Spreader to your powwow regalia, or to your collection of accessories! The artist carved this Roach Spreader from natural Antler. He or she etched designs including seven arrows. The socket has a carved design around the top.
It measures 2.5″ long x 1.5″ at the widest point. We got this spreader from a collection. It shows some signs of wear but it is in good usable condition. One of a Kind!
Shop for more Headwear!
Learn how to Make your own Porcupine Roach
Two Socket Stamped Roach Spreader
Add this Fancy Two Socket Stamped Roach Spreader to your powwow regalia, or to your collection of accessories! The Spreader features an elaborate stamped design on metal.
The Spreader measures about 6.5 ″ x 2″. A previous owner had this Spreader. It remains in very good usable condition. One of a Kind!
Shop for Roaches & Spreaders
Porcupine Hair
Native American crafters use the hair of North American porcupines to make Porcupine Roaches. Porcupine Roaches are one type of traditional headwear for Native American Regalia. Our Porky Hair consists of the soft guard hair from western porcupines.
A 1 ounce bundle of Hair will usually be enough to complete a 15″ long Porky Roach. The bundles contain hairs that range in length from 4″- 8″. You will need to sort the bundles by size before you begin.
Available in 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce packages.
We offer ready made Porcupine Roaches. Choose a Round Eastern Style or a 16″ or 18″ Long Roach.
Eastern Woodlands Jewelry
Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands used many materials to create jewelry and accessories to wear and trade. In the pre-contact period, Native Americans in the Northeast used shells, bones, stones, feathers, leather, fur and metals like copper to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, headdresses and sashes. Some of these materials were fashioned into beads and pendants that were strung on leather or fiber laces. Others were simply attached to the clothing or body part that was to be adorned.
Continue reading Eastern Woodlands Jewelry & Accessories
Deer Tails
Our Deer Tails come from the Northern Whitetail Deer. Crafters use Deer hair to make the shorter outside row in a Porcupine Roach. You can also clip the tail hair from Deer and hang it from Metal Cones to make very Eastern Woodlands style decorative fringe or tassels. Use these to decorate Bandoleer Bags and other accessories.
Our Tails come washed, dried and ready to use. They measure 6″ – 9″ long. You may dye Tails any color with commercial fabric dyes.
We offer Tails in:
- Red
- Orange
- Green
- Blue
- Purple
- Hot Pink
- White
Try our ready to use Copper Cone Deerhair Drops
Read more about using tails for Porcupine Roaches here!
Pow-Wow Dancers and Craftworkers Handbook
By Adolf Hungry Wolf. Softcover. 144 pgs.
This profusely illustrated book includes historical descriptions of Native dances, regalia and dancers and instructions for making many Native American Regalia items from clothing to roaches to bustles to drums.
Instructional drawings, black & white and color photographs.
Pow-Wow Dancers and Craftworkers Handbook is a treasure to look at and a nice reference for those making Native American Regalia items.
ISBN 1570671907
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Porcupine Quillwork on Hand Painted Feather
Use this gorgeous Quilled Feather as a Roach Feather or a Smudge Feather or add it to you collection! The crafter started with a Feather beautifully hand painted to resemble a Golden Eagle feather. He created an intricate Quillwork design with Black & Natural Porcupine Quills on a slat. Then he attached this quilled slat to the center of the feather. Blue, White and Orange Fluff Feathers accented with an antler bead and bits of fur add further decorations to the Feather. You will see that the bottom of the feather is wrapped in tape.
This Feather measures about 14″ long to the top of the Fluff. It is about 3″ wide at the widest point. We got this Feather from a collection. One of a Kind!
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Watch our YouTube Videos on Porcupine Quillwork
Female Ringneck Pheasant Tail Feathers
You will find our Natural Female Ringneck Pheasant Tail Feathers a little more delicate than the Maile Ringneck Tail Feathers. They appear lighter in color and come with more bars.
Use them for Fans, Roaches or other hair ornaments.
Choose from 2 length ranges:
We sell these Feathers in in Packages of 10.
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Fluffs – Hand painted Golden Eagle
Hand Painted Golden Eagle Fluffs are beautiful imitations of the real thing! Use them for Women’s Hair Ornaments, Roach Pins, Headdresses and Bustles.
Our painter lightly paints soft feathers to resemble Golden Eagle Fluffs.
We sell these Fluffs by the dozen. Each feather measures approximately 6″ long.
You may also like our other Hand Painted Feathers!
Native Tee Shirt – Slate
Don’t miss The Wandering Bull’s newest Tee Shirt design! You can purchase our Native design Tee shirt in Slate and Khaki!
This Exclusive silhouette design features a young Native wearing a Roach and Feathers. A Bead and Bear Claw Necklace and facial tattoos add subtle detail.
You will want one in both colors!
100% Cotton Tee Shirt. Sizes Small – XX Large.
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Native Tee Shirt – Khaki
Don’t miss The Wandering Bull’s newest Tee Shirt design! You can purchase our Native design Tee shirt in Slate and Khaki!
This Exclusive silhouette design features a young Native wearing a Roach and Feathers. A Bead and Bear Claw Necklace and facial tattoos add subtle detail.
You will want one in both colors!
100% Cotton Tee Shirt. Sizes Small – XX Large.
Shop for More Wandering Bull Tee Shirts!
Natural Bison Horns
These natural Bison Horns will make very large Powder Horns. Cut the horn and use it to make a Horn Roach Spreader. You can also use them to make Split Horn Bonnets, Horn Rattles and more.
These horns are natural black. They come minimally cleaned. Choose:
- Cleaned and Scraped Approx 8″ – 10″ long with a 4″ diameter opening
- Cleaned and left rough Approx 11″ long with a 4″ diameter opening
We sell these Horns individually. These are a natural product, so allow for variations.
We also sell Bison Toes!
Read about Native Americans and Buffalo
Loom Warp Thread
Loom Warp Thread is a heavy duty cotton thread. We sell it in White and Black.
You will find this heavy duty cotton thread perfect for stringing up your Beadloom. Additionally, you can use it to tie Porcupine Roaches. You will find it the best choice for projects where you require a natural cotton thread.
Each spool comes with 50 yards of thread.
$2.00 each or Buy 6 or more of one color for $1.75 each.
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Leather is a durable and flexible material created by tanning animal skins. Tanning animal skins into leather is a process which alters the protein structure of the animal’s skin. Tanning can be performed by several different methods. At The Wandering Bull Native American Trading Post you will find several different leather types to choose from. Continue reading Leather Types
