Kuspuks

August 6th. AUGUST 6TH! When did this happen? Where did summer go? It's one step away from fall. I'm loving the berry picking and fishing. The silvers are coming in slow. I've gotten 2 so far and my trapping partner go 7. Seven! Just plain rude out fishing me.

I'm heading off to Montana in two sleeps. I've been waiting for this since June! I can't believe it's finally here. And yet I still haven't gotten everything done that I wanted to before I take off. Hopefully I can cram a few more things in before I climb on the plane Thursday.

I pulled fabric and wanted to do some sewing. This is going to have to wait until I get back though. These are two kuspuks I made over a year ago. One for a little girl and the other for a baby.

Iris pin

This was a commissioned piece for a lady that lives here in my town. She gave this to her daughter for a birthday. It's done with delica beads using the peyote stitch. It's hardened with nail polish.

Fur bears

These are the little bears that I sew with fur scraps and little critters. I believe they're traditionally made with seal skin. My mom has a seal skin bear, but I thought that other fur would be interesting to try. I'm made them with mink, beaver, rabbit, and nutria. I'm going to try them with lynx, ermine, marten, and otter. The mink by far is my favorite.

Mink

Mink

 

Rabbit and Beaver

Each bear ends up having it's own personality because that's just the nature of the fur. Every bear that I've made out of beaver looks so different from each other. I love seeing them take shape and using up scraps that can't be used for any big projects.

Beadwork: Exhibit 1

Someone recently brought to my attention that they'd like to see my bead work. I figured this was a good place to display some of it. So here goes.

I made this as a wedding gift for my best friend and her husband. It was totally directed towards her though, the gal loves dragons. The pattern can be found here. My sweet mother is addicted to bead work as well and she spends a lot of time finding amazing patterns. She bought this pattern originally to make for me, I think, but I swiped it when Amanda told me she was engaged.

It's wonderful to have a mom that's addicted to craft work and beading. I know I appreciate it but I don't think I appreciate it enough. She always has beads, thread, fur, yarn, and practically anything that I need for a project without me having to order and wait for it.

Yup, that big silver monstrosity in the background is my car.

Fur Bear-ers (bwah!)

Hooray for about a foot and a half of snow and no wind! That's right folks, Unalakleet finally got dumped on. I can finally look out my window and see snow instead of gravel. It's about time. Of course the plows are working over time and doing a great job, I haven't seen anyone stuck just yet (but I've seen evidence of it), and I'm ready for a three day weekend. Trapping is in order, along with cleaning, skin sewing, and some libations. Let's just hope I don't get stuck in the powder drifts.

Rabbit and beaver

Kitty mittys. <--- Bwah!

Okay I've been working a little bit too long today. Because I was absolutely entertained by that title and I had no right to be. That is not witty at all (Look at me go again, Witty kitty mittys.) Terrible. I had it in my head that I wanted to sew with lynx. I didn't want to make a hat (my mom has made them in previous years) so I went with mittens (because she had never made lynx mittens.) This was the lovely, super soft result.

This is the first harness that I've ever made. The short cross piece isn't so bad but the long piece is a serious pain. I tangled it up really bad a few times. I liked how it turned out though.

Seal skin slippers part three

Liners are sewn exactly like the seal skin.  I usually just end up trimming a 1/4" to a 1/2" off of the pattern so they fit with out being too wrinkly inside of the seal skin.  I use fleece to line the slippers and mittens that I make.

Last and final step. Trim. Sew the seal skin, the fleece and the beaver trim all together and tack down. Warm soft fuzziness for your feet. The beaver was really nice and fluffy.  I love the way it poofs out. I fee like it really pulls the slipper together.

Gretchen's pair

Matt's pair

These slippers were my first skin sewing projects. It took me a really long time from start to finish because I tend to be very distracted when it comes to big projects. At least until I'm getting close to the finish line. Then I become obsessed. It'd be a lovely habit to break. But let's be honest, I'm probably not going to break it.

Seal skin slippers part two

Continuing on about seal skin slippers.  Sewing the sides to the front barely takes any time at all.  No welting is used between the seal skin for this seam.

Next step is the sole.  It was a little tricky for me.  I started at the toe and made some marks on the skin.  Then I sewed down both sides of the front piece and then around the back.  I ended up having to cut a little flap of the seal skin off.  It's definitely way better to cut a little off than to have to piece.

Right side out.  Awaiting lining and beaver trim!

Seal skin slippers

These were the first two pairs of seal skin slippers that I made.  The bead work was done by my grandma Hazel.  So much more creative and imaginative than anything that I could have come up with.  She knew how to use beads for that type of bead work in an amazing way.  The primarily blue flower was used to Matt's pair of slippers and the red and purple star-ish pattern was for Gretchen's slippers.

I love the off center turquoise pearly beads.  My mind tends to think in symmetrical patterns.

These pictures are making me want to practice this type of bead work.

Proper placement is key.

I worry about where the bead work is placed on the toe of the slipper.  No piece is going to be perfect and they'll never match exactly but I certainly can try to get them as close as possible.  The bead work is stitched down all around the edge.  Using a piece of felt as welting the front and the toe are stitched together.  I chose red for Gretchen's slipper.

I need to catch me some seals.  I need some more seal skin.

Beaver Mitts (Part Six)

Last and final post regarding beaver mittens.  Hahaha.  I stretched this out way too long.  I have since finished these mittens and another pair.  The first pair was donated to the sewing circle auction.  Mr. Nick Hanson is the proud new owner of that pair.  The second pair was supposed to be for the Christmas bazaar but I'm not going to be here for that.  Sigh.  They never take my travel into account when they plan that thing.  It's frustrating.

Sew, sew, sew all the way up each side.

I have to change my thread a lot.  I don't like have super long thread because it always gets tangled.

Fur is tricky.  It's never quite perfect looking.

I normally don't sew with a thimble.  After a few days though... your finger tips get pretty sore and tender.

Just a wee bit more to go!

Finished product.

I line the beaver mitts with fleece cut and sewn in the same manner as the mitten itself.  I add a little leather loop on the top side in case the owner wants to add a yarn neck piece.

My mom has a blog :D

Check out what she posted.

Beaver Mitts (Part Five)

The next two pieces to sew together are the piece you just finished and the only other piece left!  Funny how that works, hm?   You sew them similarly to how you did the thumb on the first piece.  Start at each side and steadily work your way up both sides.  This takes a considerable amount of time.  I believe that goldfish and champagne are necessities to this process.

Clearly champagne and goldfish are key.

Work your way up both sides to the top near where the middle finger sits in the glove.  This pattern involves very minimal gathering.  IF gathering does occur the gathering should be done with the beaver hide.  If there is excess leather you get the joy of ripping and trimming down the leather.  Fun stuff, hm?  You betcha!

The end is in sight.  Oh yeah.  Then you get to repeat the whole process.

Beaver Mitts (Part Four)

In this photo you can see the two types of stitching that I use.  You can also see the welting between the fur and the leather.  I really love skin sewing.  I think I like it even more than beading!  Who knew?

In this photo you can see me working my way up the sides of the thumb.  I always attempt to guess the length of the welting by using one piece.  Sometimes I'm right on other times I end up having to cut it, when you're guessing, don't underestimate.  Overestimating is the way to go.  That way you don't end up with little pieces of welting.

Mittens are awesome to sew because you sew with the fur side in.  Much easier than parka sewing which is best done fur side out (it's warmer).  I have yet to attempt a parka but I'm thinking a bigger skin sewing project might be fun.

This is what happens when you stay up too late drinking wine and skin sewing.  I have no other excuses.

Beaver Mitts (Part Three)

The first two pieces of beaver mitten that you stitch together are the bottom piece and the palm piece.  Start at the edge where it's flat and sew to where the thumb starts, making sure that the corners meet up.  With this pattern you have to gather the beaver fur just a little bit.  I use two types of stitches, changing between them quite frequently.  The two stitches that I use are a basting stitch and a whip stitch.

Part one

Once you have the straight part all sewn together, use two needles and start on each side of the base of the thumb.  Work on one side for an inch or two then switch to the other side and sew for an inch or two, back and forth until you meet at the top.  This should keep the thumb from twisting up too much.  Ripping is the worst and I try to keep myself from doing it too often.

Part two

Beaver Mitts (Part two)

Step three continued: Here's the beaver that I used for the tops of the mittens.  You need at least one pretty large beaver for the tops and another decent sized beaver for the bottoms, or two smaller beavers.  The mittens are meant to be worn over other gloves.

I trace out both pieces before I start cutting anything.  Usually I trace out all of the pieces before I cut anything so that I know I have enough and that the fur is all going the right direction.  Tracing kinda sucks because you can't pin the pattern to the skin.  One option is to tape the pattern down to the hide.

Once you have all of the pieces cut out you need some welting.  I just use strips from the leather used for the palm of the mitten.  Cut them loooong and skinny, about a 1/4 inch thick.  When I sew with the welting I put it so the rough side is to the leather and the smooth side is to the fur.  Just personal preference.  You can welt however you like.

Ready to start sewing!

Beaver Mitts

Sewing circle wanted someone to make beaver mittens.  My mom volunteered me.  So here begins my beaver mitt making story.  Step one: Choose a pattern.  The pattern I used was so generously given to me and mom by Karen Coffey.  I believe it was her mom's pattern.  

Said beaver mitt pattern.

Step two: Acquire beaver, leather, needles, thread, fleece, etc. in order to make beaver mittens.  I'm lucky I have a very crafty mother because I can go and steal supplies from her.  I probably should start buying some of my own supplies because I'm an adult now, but she'll never possibly use up all of her supplies in our lifetime.  So I steal.  And she doesn't seem to mind.  Too much.

Step three: tracing and cutting.

Step three: Trace and cut out pieces for the mittens.  This pattern requires three pieces for each mitten.  Six total (In case you can't do math.)  For the leather I had to trace on the shiny side because my black pen wouldn't show up on the black leather, go figure.  You can use either scissors or an exacto blade for the leather.  For the beaver fur, you want to trace on the back (obviously) and you need to use an exacto blade or utility knife because you don't want to cut the fur.

Exacto blade

I cut out all of my piece before I start sewing.  With the leather you don't need to be nearly as careful as you do with the beaver hide.  There's no fur flowage to worry about, the only thing to really concern yourself with is that you get to opposite sides.  To help with this process I label my sides A and B.  And done.

Wallah!  A cut out palm piece.