Authentic Native American Jewelry and Artifacts
Tiny Pourier, Lakota
Quilled Medicine Wheel Bracelet
HK Item #NBK26

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About Porcupine Quill Work

Porcupine quill work is one of the oldest and fastest disappearing traditional Native American art forms. The Great Lakes and Plains Indians lived in the range of the porcupine and utilized the quills to decorate moccasins, sheaths, baskets, pipe stems and more. The porcupine was not sacrificed to obtain the quills, although porcupine meat is quite delicious. Instead the women of the tribe would throw a blanket over an unsuspecting porcupine who would release the quills as a defense and leave them in the blanket.

The quills are cleaned and dyed with plant origin colors such as buffalo berry for red, sunflower or cone flower for yellow, and wild grapes for black. Once dry, they are oiled so they wouldn't become brittle and shatter when sewing them.

Beading began replacing quillwork in the early 1800s and today there are only a few artists that work with porcupine quills.