American Indian Beadwork Designs.

Q: Does someone know where you can go on the net to get free seed-bead Indian designs? I have designs for the 'Peace-Pipe', 'Thunderbird', 'Arrow', and 'Tomahawk', and 'Alphabet'. I would like some for an 'Eagle', 'Teepee', 'Bowls', and others associated with Indian culture. If someone knows of a good book to buy, I would like to know that too.

A: 'Marelyn Letson' has some patterns on her site, and she has done a video of the NA peyote stitch, it is an excellent teaching video. She uses big pony beads and cord to show the stitch. http://members.tripod.com/meiwei/beading.html A good source for designs in a book is the series by 'Peggy Sue Henry': "Beads To Buckskins". They are available at most Tandy Stores, and I think there is a website, but I cannot find the URL in my lists. Try a search for the title. I also have these book titles in my library: "A Primer: the art of Native American Beadwork" by 'Z. Susanne Aikman', and "How To Do Bead Work" by 'Mary White'. Also, go to your area Library and look for author 'W. Ben Hunt'. He wrote many help books geared toward the 'Scouts' (boy and girl). You may want to take a look at the "Arrowhead" corner at the site maintained by the 'Boy Scouts': http://www.bsa.net. Another very valuable source of patterns, techniques, and inspiration is "Native Tech." I'm sorry I don't have the URL handy, as I'm writing from my office, but it will undoubtedly turn up in a search.

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