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Fingerweaving
(from the native Tech website which is a fabulous resource in itself):
http://www.nativetech.org/finger/beltinstr.html
Next one about fingerweaving also from that list with great pictures of every step: Sinew beading tips and fingerweaving Here is a little tidbit I picked up from Bob Austin...[fingerweaving expert]...he demonstrated this to me and during his presentation.....I asked him how he managed to string his size 5 and 8 white pony beads onto the wool yarn when he incorporates beads into his finger weavings. He showed me his method... He frays the end of the yarn with a nail file then wets it with saliva and twists it into a point. Then he squeezes a tiny amount of a particular glue, the name of which I cannot remember onto the pads of his thumb and index finger, then pulls the end of the yarn through his fingers and allows the yarn thread to dry....thus forming a stiff, needle-like end on the yarn. The beads slide right on..... I decided to try his method using sinew....I took 5 preformed, twisted sinew threads from my thread bundle....applied a tiny droplet of Franklin's Liquid Hide Glue to the pads of my thumb and index finger and ran the working end of the sinew threads through the glue, about 1 1/2 inches coated with the glue....did the 5 strands and set them aside to completely dry. When dry, I had a stiff, needle end on each thread....using a scrap of brain dressed buckskin, and size 12 white beads on the hank thread, I removed 8 beads between my thumb and index fingers...be sure to wash your hands after using the glue....I inserted the needle end of the thread through the beads...worked just like a size 12 needle....oh yes, I ran the thread through my little plate of Johnson's Baby Powder first....then inserted the needle-like end of the thread through the awl hole in the hide....works so slick..... then tried it with scooping up loose beads that are not strung on hanks...works great....also used my method of wetting the tip of my finger with saliva and picking up loose beads that way and catching them with the needle....worked just fine with the sinew thread..... This works even better than the method I have been using that I learned from Gracie Hollow Horn using hard candy mixed with saliva to form a needle-like end...this new method lasts longer.....and is more firm....I also tried these threads using size 13 beads which I normally use for my beadwork...again...success...I am pleased with this new idea....it took someone with a brain to come up with this and pass it on to someone like me who does not have a natural brain....it's all so obvious.....for those with a thinking mind, of course.... Just wanted to pass that bit along as I know some of you are beading with sinew....I have a set of shirt strips to do using sinew and old beads....this will make the work go even faster I think
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